The Son Of Two Heroes
by Darling in the Fox
Summary: Summary: Intervention by Iruka early in Naruto's life causes amazing changes for the future. A boy who soon takes after his father carves his own name into the shinobi world. Rated M for Thirteen year olds killing people, adult themes, and strong language. Smart, strong and eventual seal master and eventual kind of OP Naruto. Picture by wilczyca117 on deviantart.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One.**_

_**Heyo! Welcome to "Naruto: Son of Two Heroes" my very first fanfic and pretty much my first attempt at writing. I tried to polish this as well as possible to make it a good read so please enjoy and let me know what you think! **_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did Naruto would have been slightly smarter.**_

* * *

_**Summary: AU. Iruka acknowledges and takes a bigger interest in Naruto much earlier and helps shape Naruto's basic shinobi skills. He unknowingly changes the ninja world forever.  
My attempt at preserving the world we had up to the end of the Pain arc. No biggest jutsu wins battles here. Rated M for Thirteen year olds killing people, adult themes, and strong language.**_

_**Smart, strong and eventual seal master Naruto.**_

"Naruto!"

"Heh, found you Iruka-Sensei!" A Nine year old Naruto said to the scarred chunin.

With a swift firm smack to the back of the head, Iruka shouted back, "I found you, you idiot!"

"..." eyes to the ground Naruto didn't say a word.

"Naruto...when are you going to take your studies seriously?" Frowning, Iruka continued, "At this rate you'll fail the academy, Naruto."

With a faint mumble Naruto responded, "...it's not like they listen to me."

"Say again?"

"They don't listen to me! They look down on me and ignore me and go out of their way to make my life hard...I've tried Sensei, I really have!" Naruto frowned and sighed, "I can't learn when they won't teach me."

"Naruto..." Iruka sighed.

**Flashback**

"_Iruka..."_

"_Yes Lord Third?"_

"_Naruto.. is a very special boy, a boy who I have no doubt has the potential to be the most gifted Shinobi ever produced by the hidden leaf. However talent, like using water for power, must be tapped and cultivated to be molded into something greater."_

"_T-the... most gifted Lord Third?" Iruka replied, eyes wide._

"_Iruka, what I'm about to tell you is an S class secret, known only to six people in this village. I tell you because you have shown to me you care for the boy."_

"_..L-lord Hokage are yo-"_

_With a stern tone, Hiruzen cut him off.  
_"_Iruka. Please just listen; many mistakes have been made by this old man, many I very much regret." Sarutobi said in an almost weak voice. He suddenly regained the tone of a battle hardened Hokage and continued on, "However, Uzumaki Naruto will not be one of these many mistakes. For Naruto is not only the hero of the Hidden Leaf for jailing the Nine Tails, but he is the son of our very own Fourth Hokage."_

_Iruka's eyes shot wide and his mouth would have dropped open, were it not for his restraint as a Shinobi. "The son of Lord Fourth...and all this time we've..." _

"_Indeed it was Minato's wish for Naruto to be seen as a hero..." Hiruzen sighed, "I may have failed Minato, but I will not fail young Naruto. Please Iruka instruct him to the greatest of your ability and lay the foundation for him to become a splendid Shinobi."  
_

**Flashback end**

"Alright then!" Iruka suddenly shouted.

"Uh Sensei?"

"Naruto do you wish to learn, and become a splendid Shinobi?"

"Of course! I really do wanna learn, Sensei! But do you... do you really think I can be a good ninja?"

Iruka smiled down at the boy, ruffled his hair, and replied, "Naruto, I believe you have what it takes to not only become a wonderful Shinobi, but also the greatest Hokage."

Naruto's eyes widened at that statement, and for the first time, he felt the determination and resolve in him harden into something he knew that was completely unbreakable. Little did Iruka know, he had just placed Uzumaki Naruto on a path that would later become one of legend.

"Alright Naruto, meet me outside the academy an hour after classes are out every day. Got it?"

"Yes, Sensei!"

* * *

Three year time skip...

Over the next three years, Iruka gave extra training and lessons to Naruto to help him catch up on what he had been missing because of the bias academy teachers. Iruka taught the basics of Shinobi to Naruto: Tai, Nin, and Genjutsu. Although, as it turns out, Naruto is terrible at Genjutsu, and it seems he may actually be incapable of it.

However, Iruka learned many things about the once thought dead last. By now, he had raised to number two in the class, just behind Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto, as it turns out was quite a bit more like his father than Iruka ever could have originally thought. It seemed now that he was no longer desperate for attention or any sort of acknowledgement. He had put aside his exuberant, brash, and inattentive actions, and began to lose his lack of formality or social standings.

Naruto's true personality with a proper adult influence in his life had become something quite akin to his father's. He seemed to be more perceptive and collected. For the most part, he was respectful, but could still be overly excitable and quick tempered. He still possessed his indomitable spirit and fierce ambition that drove him through all his choices in life. He is of unwavering loyalty to Konoha and his precious people. The young Uzumaki proved to be mature and very serious. He had also shown to have a sharp wit, carefully thinking before acting and able to see the underlying nature of the situation at hand, while, for the most part, remaining calm and collected. He had since changed his clothing styles and upgraded his gear. Along with these changes, he had let his hair grow to the point that it had started to imitate Minato's. It was a wonder why the villagers never noticed the uncanny resemblance.

One of his greatest strengths was when it came to close range combat. He had surprised his faithful instructor with his talent. The most impressive part was his seem-less mastery over the substitution. The scarred chunin had never seen someone use the technique in such a way before. Naruto's style of combat has become truly unique in a way completely unexpected. Through the use of lighting fast substitution with Kunais he'd found a way to almost instantaneously close a gap in close quarters as well as get behind his foe in seconds. The only problem Naruto had with his new technique was replacing himself with something so small was extremely taxing on his stamina and his chakra reserves. If he didn't focus enough during the execution, an unnecessary amount of residual chakra would slam back into his chakra coils, putting immense strain on them. Effectively semi-handicapping his super trump-card.

Naruto had undergone almost brutal training on chakra control from his instructor to try to get the clone jutsu down. In the end after finally being able to do the leaf sticking exercise, the boy was able to make the clone if done in sets of four.

Among the many accomplishments Naruto had made in the past three years, one was very special to him. His first real _friend_. And the second person to acknowledge him. Even though the bastard would never admit it. Sasuke acknowledged Naruto's skill, not that Naruto gave him much of a choice. They met up for spars or jutsu practice almost every day before or after the academy.

Together they had honed their taijutsu to near perfection, along with drilling chakra control into their skulls. Unless at the training grounds they never talked very much. It had also been pretty difficult for the rest of the students of the academy to accept that the one person Sasuke talked to was Naruto.

* * *

A dull thunk was heard as a small male academy student landed in the dirt. "Winner Inuzuka Kiba!" Came the loud and authoritative voice of Umino Iruka.

A loud laugh rang out for the victorious boy, "Yeah anyone else want some!?" Kiba stood in the fight circle with a feral grin on his face.

"I'll happily take my chances" a calm voice called out, belonging to one Uzumaki Naruto. Walking out toward the fighting mat, standing at a solid five foot two inches tall Naruto, was about equal in height with his classmates and in some cases he was physically taller than some students. A long overdue change up in his diet was practically forced upon him by Iruka, although he still managed to put down at least three bowls of ramen each day.

Dressed in a black T-shirt with orange stripes in the middle of the sleeves, metal arm protectors, leather straps around his back and chest, and dark pants, Naruto really did look the part of a shinobi.

"Do you have the energy to run another match Kiba?" Asked the scarred chunin, with a slightly concerned look.

"For a scrub like Naruto?" Kiba laughed, "Of course I do, Sensei." Kiba cracked his knuckles with a predatory grin.

"Act cocky all you want Kiba, I respect your skill but you and I both know it's been a year and a half since you've beat me in a spar. I'm no scrub." Naruto countered with a half smile.

"Alright Naruto vs Kiba" Iruka announced and held up his hand, "ready?"

A resounding "yes" from both boys was heard.

"Begin!"

Instantly Naruto was on Kiba, charging in with a burst of speed to send a right hook at the dog whisperer. Kiba was put on the defensive, but the boy was no push over. Considering his training in his family's Taijutsu, he was one of the best in the academy, but Naruto's hard work and inherently prodigal mind had turned him into a polished and effective neutralizer. Kiba threw a hard right cross at Naruto who let it hit, but only to grab Kiba's arm and slam him to the ground. Two quick consecutive hits to the back of the head on the way down sent Kiba's head reeling with stars in his eyes. Managing to right himself and continue fighting, he charged in at Naruto, connecting his fist to his targets abdomen. Taking the hit he launched back observing the feral boy. Naruto waited for him to re-initiate. The marked boy rushed in low and attempted to sweep out the blonds legs. The attack was dodged and he immediately made space, but in a burst of speed Naruto was at his side with a spin kick to his left hip. The sound of Naruto's foot connecting resounded and the feral Inuzuka was sent flying out of the fight area.

"Winner Uzumaki Naruto!" The instructor announced. "Alright make the unison sign." Kiba and Naruto met in the middle and smiled at one another. Quickly making the sign and then letting go, they broke apart. Sliding his hands into his pockets and slowly walking away, Naruto smiled, considering his progress in the last three years.

"_I will be Hokage one day, and I'm just one step closer everyday."_ thought the blonde. As other students began to duke it out, Naruto stood unmoving, staring at the Hokage mountain.

"Oi Naruto what are you doing?" asked a rather large boy crunching on a bag of chips as he spoke. Naruto spun around to face the voice and immediately saw who was speaking.

"Oh, sorry Choji I was just thinking about how hard I had to work to get here and how much harder I'm going to have to work in a week after we graduate." The golden haired boy said with a smile.

"Man, you're so troublesome, Naruto. Working so hard is a drag, I don't understand how you can go at it like that." A spiky ponytailed boy in his trademark lazy and irritated tone.

"Of course you wouldn't understand Shika, your goal in life is to be mediocre. But, me, I'm aiming for the top!" Naruto called out to him with a ear to ear grin.

"Hn, dead last, as if you'll ever hit the top" rang the voice of one Uchiha Sasuke.

"It's been a long time since I've been the dead last Sasu-chan" called Naruto.

"You're still loser though" the black haired boy replied with a glare at the subtle insult.

"Alright, enough you two. Class is over, everyone head home" called out the chunin instructor.

"Later guys!" Naruto called out as he took off down the street.

* * *

The blond academy student made his way toward training ground fourteen, one that wasn't often used by anyone in Konoha's shinobi forces. Made up of a medium sized clearing with a small stream running through it, it was a quiet and secluded space. Naruto approached the water and slowly stepped onto it to continue practicing water walking. With his high chakra reserves, the Hokage and Iruka-Sensei had deemed it best that he learn tree climbing due to his high need for chakra control. Later down the line he had seen a few Leaf nin sparing in another training ground and had watched as they ran across water. Logically he deduced that the tree climbing exercise would be practical for use of walking across water.

Over the course of the next four months, he had practiced to the point he could steadily walk on water but still needed to concentrate fairly hard in keeping his chakra in check. His goal now was to do it subconsciously.

He began throwing kunai at targets he had set up, simultaneously moving across the water, but halted when he sensed a chakra signature appear behind him.  
"Can I help you Neko-san?" He asked to said ANBU agent as she appeared seemingly out of thin air. They had long since stopped being surprised at his ability to sense them.

**Flashback**  
_Naruto sat at the stall in Ichiraku with the Hokage as they chatted about Naruto's schooling. "So Naruto how is your tr-.."_

"_Oh hey Neko!" Naruto interrupted the aged shinobi. As a ANBU with a cat mask suddenly appeared behind them._

"_...Naruto, how did you know Neko was here?" Asked the slightly surprised leader._

"_Whaaa? Ohhh, I'm not sure I guess I just kind of.. well knew? I felt her I suppose? Why? Is that strange?" Dawning a look of slight concern the boy asked, "Wait did I do something wrong?"_

_The Hokage chuckled and look down at Naruto "No, no, my dear boy. It's just uncommon. It seems you have a fairly rare ability among shinobi."_

_Naruto's facial expression went from concerned to shocked and then to excitement. "A rare ability? No way! Do I have a sweet awesome bloodline technique or something!? I knew I was the best ya know!"_

_Chuckling again with a grin of his own but speaking in his professor voice, Sarutobi started, "No, no, young man. Not a bloodline, but you do seem to be a sensor. This is quite a convenient ability to have for a shinobi, you can sense chakra signatures of others around you. Try stretching your chakra ou-.."_

_Clearing her throat rather loudly and interrupting Neko announced her leader, "Hokage-sama please, you are needed urgently by the council, I apologize for my interruption but this is very important."_

"_Ah, yes, yes, my dear. Alright then. Sorry, my boy, but I must be going. The duty of the Hokage calls." Hiruzen said._

"_Don't worry old man you won't have to do it much longer because I'm gonna come get that hat from you soon y'know!" Naruto shouted at the back of the aged Kage as he made his way off with the ANBU._

"_I look forward to that day then." Hiruzen stated with a chuckle"  
_  
**Flashback end  
**  
The ANBU agent looked at the blond and responded, "Lord Third Hokage has requested your presence in the tower. Please, come with me."

"Right. Let's get going then." Naruto said, gaining a serious look on his face as the agent used the body flicker to take them both to the office of the Kage.

"Lord Third, sir." Naruto stated as they entered.

"Ah hello Naruto, I trust you're workin hard in your training? Walk with me, boy." Hiruzen began to walk out the door and head up the stairs to the roof of the tower.

"I am, Hokage-sama. I'm working on my water walking right now. If you don't mind my asking, why am I here?" Naruto asked while rushing to catch up to the elder.

They arrived on the roof overlooking the village. It was sunny and warm with a cool breeze floating through the air. The Hokage passed his gaze over the village and then behind him and up at the Hokage mountain. "Naruto, my boy, you'll be a ninja soon if you pass your test at the academy. Assuming you will and I do believe you are capable, there are many things you need to be informed of."

Naruto dawning a look of confusion and suspicion on his face then asked, "What do you mean by that, sir?"

"There are things you need to know to help with your development as a shinobi and your service to the village. I also intend to, upon your reaching the rank of Genin, inform you of the identity of your mother, my boy." Hiruzen said gaining a softer look and a sad tone in remembrance of Kushina as he finished his statement.

Eyes widening and tears slightly appearing in the corners of his eyes as he began to slightly shake, Naruto peered up at old Sarutobi. "M-my mother Old Man? Y-you knew her? My real mother? You never told me." Taking a deep breath to calm himself he continued, "I'm sure you had your reasons sir, but why did you never tell me?"

"That I did. I knew her quite well in that right. I couldn't tell you because your mother had many enemies. But after you graduate, you will know, my boy." Hiruzen sighed, saddened by the way the boy completely controlled his almost break down, but inwardly gained a new respect for the boy's discipline in his emotions, a key necessity in the life of a shinobi.

* * *

Only a week was left before the genin graduation exams. Naruto was slightly excited, but still kept himself well composed. He had finished his water walking training and now had a much better grasp on his chakra control.

He had also gained better mastery of his most prized and favorite technique, the substitution with his kunai. He was now able to do it a total of eight times during spars with Sasuke or training sessions without tearing apart his chakra coils.

He could still use the substitution in its usual implications, like substituting a log with no problems, even after using his kunai substitution. Still, substituting the kunai was very strenuous. He needed to let himself rest afterwards so his coils could expand and cushion themselves for more of the extreme stress the technique would cause.

Honing his taijutsu and ninjutsu skills, Naruto knew that he was ready to take on the exam. He practiced his bunshin and substitution along with his transformation, which he had managed to make entirely solid. The blond decided to spend his week studying, as well as practicing his techniques. It was going to be a long week no matter what, and he had to be at his peak.

* * *

_**A/N: Hey there! I hope you enjoyed. It's my first fanfiction and I'm working on ironing out the wrinkles, but I think I'll get there. I plan for this to probably be a pretty long story. I've got so much thought up already! Any way have a good one! Lemme know what you think in the comments!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

_**Heyo! Welcome back to The Son of Two Heroes. I don't have a super active beta, so anyone willing to help would be appreciated! Thanks, enjoy!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did Naruto would have been slightly smarter.**_

* * *

This was it. He was ready. It was time to become a genin and he could finally learn about his mother. Naruto was positively ecstatic and ready to go. Sliding on his black t-shirt, he strapped on his metal arm protectors, and donned his black pants. Closing the door with a thud, he took off for the academy.

* * *

Having finished the written portion, and completed the demonstrations of ninjutsu, the genin hopefuls found themselves outside for a taijutsu test.

"Alright class listen up!" The white haired chunin instructor called out. "Each of you will spar with me, and Iruka will assess your skill got it?"

A chorus of "yes" came from the class and the matches started. Most had quite a bit of trouble with Mizuki but still managed to pass, the clan kids however did fairly well against the hardened chunin. Kiba giving him a considerable amount of trouble.

"Inuzuka Kiba, pass" Iruka announced "Hinata Hyūga please come up." Hinata then began her match doing well and subsequently passing as many others did. The students one by one were called up and tested.

"Uchiha Sasuke" as his name was called the stoic and bored looking last survivor walked up to the mat and took his stance, preparing for Mizuki's inevitable assault. Mizuki dashed at the confident Uchiha, they quickly engaged in a fierce taijutsu bout. Sasuke threw himself into a heel drop on the chunin but his superior speed allowed him a quick dodge. When the Uchiha's foot impacted the ground however he quickly adjusted into a spin kick catching Mizuki in the back. At that point Iruka called the match, and Sasuke casually strolled off of the mat causing his fangirls to ooh and ahh about how cool he was.

"Alright, Uzumaki Naruto" hearing Iruka call his name the boy made his way to the mat. Mizuki smiled at him and wished him luck telling him to do his best, but something seemed off to Naruto. In the chunin's mind he intended to rough up the Jinchuuriki something fierce.

Naruto meanwhile sensed something was off but pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he knew he had to pass this test so he could learn of his mother and start his path to Hokage. Naruto settled into his stance and readied himself. The chunin immediately kicked off at speeds higher than that he had used on the other students. Naruto's eyes widened slightly in surprise at this but once again, he pushed it to the back of his mind and engaged. The blond slid under a hard spin kick, pouncing on one hand and slamming his foot into Mizuki's hip. "_This damn brat hits hard."_ Mizuki thought with a snarl. He twisted around and caught the boy in the ribs with his fist launching the boy backwards. However Naruto caught himself in a handstand and spun around onto his feet facing his opponent. With a chakra enhanced sprint he cleared the space between them in what almost seemed like an instant.

He found himself wishing in the back of his mind he could have used his kunai substitution. Just as he reached the chunin he did the unexpected and slid onto the ground catching Mizuki by the ankles and pulling his feet out from under him slamming him face first into the ground. A slightly stunned Iruka starred for a moment before regaining his composure clearing his throat and announcing "Uzumaki Naruto, pass."

Naruto stood beside a still downed Mizuki and smiled at the scarred chunin. The other instructor got up and dusted himself off and made his way to Iruka's side muttering about brats and demons. "_You'll pay for this you damn demon brat."_ Mizuki thought to himself as tried to hide his humiliation and shame by putting up a fake smile and told the boy well done. The class all then filed back into the academy and took seats.

"Alright everyone, on Monday be here at eight am sharp for team assignments. Enjoy your down time because life's about to get a lot more interesting!" Iruka finished off with a smile. "Everyone head home." He said with a wave as he and Mizuki left the room to go write reports on all of the soon to be genin.

* * *

After they left the academy, Naruto and Sasuke met up at training ground fourteen.  
"Hey there bastard!" Naruto called out with a grin as he arrived.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted with a smirk of his own. "Ready to lose loser?" He asked arrogantly.

"Sure sure, _little_ Sasuke." Naruto said mockingly sticking out his tongue. "Let's get wild then." He said. The Uchiha grunted at the taunt.

Sasuke and Naruto took their stances and Naruto threw a kunai into the air. When it hit the ground they burst into a fierce bout of taijutsu engaging each other with hard blows. These two never were and never would be, ordinary genin.

* * *

It was late the next evening when Naruto who was committing himself to another round of physical training, sensed the presence of his second Sensei moving quickly past his training ground. "_That's strange"_ Naruto thought to himself. "_Past this training ground is just the edge of the village...wait he couldn't be? Is he deserting the village? No no I know Sensei doesn't like me but I'm sure he wouldn't turn traitor."_ And so the boy chose to investigate and took off in the direction of his teacher.

* * *

"Uzumaki Naruto has stolen the scroll of seals!" A leaf jounin yelled. "Mobilize the chunin corps!"

"Now now," a voice broke through the chaos. "You will all find young Uzumaki and bring him to me _unharmed_ and with the scroll in tow. Is that understood?" The Third Hokage commanded his shinobi.

"L-lord Third?" A chunin asked. "But surely he stole the scr-...

"I said is that _understood_?" The Hokage asked in a no nonsense tone.

"Y-yes sir!"

"Good now go!" The village leader waved his hand in dismissal and the shinobi scattered. "Inu!" A tall ANBU with a dog mask and spiky silver hair landed next to the aged Hokage in a kneeling position. "Go find Naruto. There is a traitor amongst us who has tried to impersonate Naruto as a cover for his escape. The scroll he stole is fake but we must catch him. But if I know our boy he will find his way into this trouble, or the traitor may try to harm him." The Hokage then sighed, "keep him safe Inu."

"Yes Lord Hokage" and with the wind the ANBU was gone.

* * *

The forest was quiet as Naruto watched the chunin scout the area and prepare his things. Deeply troubling the boy was the large scroll with the Hokage's seal on it. No chuunin should be out in the forest on the edge of the village with a scroll of high importance alone. This could only mean one thing. "_Damnit could that possibly mean you're a traitor after all?"_ Naruto questioned to himself. The chunin was rushing himself obviously in a slight panic. "_Wonder what's got him so shook up..."  
_  
Dropping down a few yards away from the supposed traitor, Naruto called out "Hey! Mizuki-Sensei! What're you doin out here at this time of night? Are you lost Sensei?"

When Mizuki heard the voice, he turned around and when he saw the young blond he thought to himself "_things just might work out a little better now."_ Naruto approaches his sensei and smiled at him.

"I can help if ya want! Whoa! What's that super big scroll?" Mizuki's eyes narrowed and in seconds a large fuma shuriken appeared in his hand and slammed into the spot Naruto had been standing. Had he not had the reflexes he possessed from his rigorous training he would have been killed. Naruto leapt back to create space, instinctively throwing a volley of shuriken at his foe. "So you really are a traitor" he wondered aloud. "Hopefully someone comes along to assist, but I'm not just gonna let you take off on the village like this. I'll keep you here until someone shows up."

"Ha! As if you could keep up with me demon brat!" Mizuki chuckled darkly, "you're weak in that form aren't you, monster fox?"

"Wait...monster..fox? Y-you mean the Nine Tails? Why? Why do you people all keep calling me that!? Do you know you bastard!? Tell me!" Naruto exclaimed, composure crumbling down under a tidal wave of emotion.

"It's simple you damn demon! Twelve years ago, when the Fourth Hokage fought the Nine Tailed Fox, he sealed it in you! You are the Nine Tails! You are the monster fox!" Mizuki began to cackle at Naruto's expression. "That's why they all hate you! Even Iruka, and now I'm gonna get rid of you for good!" He yelled laughing as the boy fell onto his rear in disbelief. He then wretched his arm back and launched his fuma shuriken.

"No!" A voice cried out and the dull thud and of steel impacting flesh rang through the small clearing. "It's true, there is a demon fox inside you. But you are it's jailor. You're no monster fox Naruto! You're a great student and I acknowledge you and your incredible talent, along with the immense potential you possess as a shinobi!" Iruka coughed up a bit of blood but smiled at him. Hunched over the boy with the large shuriken sticking out of his back. "You are Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha!"

"As heart warming as this is, it's time to die! Both of you!" Mizuki yelled out.

Naruto stood, laying Iruka down against a tree while removing the shuriken. "Rest now Iruka-sensei, I'll take things from here. Thank you."  
That was when Iruka noticed the look of absolute determination and unshakable resolve the boy had on his face. He smiled at the blond.

"Good luck" Iruka said to him softly.

"Sensei, I make my own luck" the boy replied with a smile. "Oi! Bastard! If you lay one finger on my sensei ever again" Naruto pointed at his forehead with his thumb. "I'll kill you!"

"You can try fox!" Yelled Mizuki who charged at the boy. A volley of shuriken come his way but Naruto deflected them with his kunai. He then launched his own volley but of kunai, they flew toward Mizuki and the chuunin deflected all but one. Only to tilt his head to the side and avoid it. Then, the blond disappeared. Reappearing in his place was a kunai and Naruto's foot slammed into the older mans back. Stumbling Mizuki found himself about to fall right in front of the kunai from before, only to see it disappear and felt the boy's sandal plant itself in his face. The traitorous nin was launched backwards righting himself in time to see the young boy launch into a spin kick that planted itself firmly in Mizuki's chest slamming him into a tree. Eyes widened in shock the chunin thought to himself "_how? How did he get so strong!? Rah, no matter I'll use the power Lord Orochimaru has given me and destroy this pest!" _Mizuki's body was suddenly covered in black markings and his chakra began to flair up. Naruto's eyebrow rose in confusion.

"_What's with this malevolent chakra?"_ The boy wondered to himself. But suddenly a loud chirping sound rang through the clearing and in a flash of blue light a hand rammed out of Mizuki's chest. The chunin coughed up blood and managed to get out a gurgled "wha..?" Before abruptly dying. His body slid off of the arm and landed on the ground. Naruto's gaze focused on the arm but slowly followed it up to its owner, a dog masked ANBU. "I-Inu? What are you doing here" Naruto was shocked but relieved to see the black ops nin.

"Hokage's orders." He stares blankly. He walked to Iruka and checked on him bandaging his back. He then stood to look at the young man, "you did well Naruto, be proud. Now stay with him while I go grab a medic, I'd rather not move him."

"Y-yes sir. Thank you." Naruto managed to get out straightening his stance out to look more presentable and the ANBU disappeared in a swirl of leaves . "One day I need to learn how to do that" he muttered to himself.

"Naruto..." the pained voice of Iruka came, "come here" he grunted as he fully sat himself up against the tree.

"What is it? Sensei you shouldn't move!" The boy knelt next to the chunin. A look of worry etched onto his face.

"You did well Naruto," Iruka said with a smile. "I have no doubt you'll make a great Hokage one day." And with that for the first time in at least three years, Naruto cried.

* * *

Taking the empty seat next to Sasuke, Naruto settled in for team assignments. Iruka entered and began a long speech. After that was finished Iruka smiled at his class. "Alright team assignments are as follows..." Naruto spaced out only listening only for his name. "...and Hinazuki Rikka. You guys are Team Two, your Jounin sensei will be Satomi Yuta."

"_Ri...kka? Where have I heard that before?"_ Naruto questioned to himself. Unsure he thought on it longer but couldn't come up with anything for why he would recognize the name.

"...Team Seven, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto. Your Jounin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi." Drawled out Iruka, who became suddenly surprised at Kakashi being a Jounin sensei.

"What the hell! I thought the worst and best in the class are supposed to be on the same team? Why's the second rank in with the rookie of the year? That's OP!" Kiba shouted out.

"Well after scores were taken, Sasuke and Naruto have tied for Rookie of the year. And it's a direct order from _Lord Third Hokage_." Kiba's eyes widened in shock and he slightly cowered in his seat at the tone. "Anything else Kiba?"

"No Sensei!" Kiba called out.

"Good. Team Eight is Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Hyūga Hinata. Your Jonin sensei will be Yuhi Kurenai." Iruka continued on in hopes of preventing any idle chatter. "Team Nine is still in service, so Team Ten will be Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, and Yamanaka Ino. Your Jounin sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma." Wiping his brow in relief Iruka continued, "Alright! That's it. Everyone hang around and wait for your Sensei. I look forward to watching you each develop as a shinobi."

* * *

This was it! He was a ninja now, and he could finally know who his mother was! Naruto sprinted across rooftops headed for the Hokage tower. He earned these answers and he had every intention of getting them.

Finally arriving at the tower the boy walked in. Walking up to the secretary, someone who had never been bad to him but had always been indifferent. He put a big smile on his face and said "How's it going? Is Lord Third in a meeting?"

She grunted and replied "No he just got out of one, you can go up."

"Thanks a ton!" He said taking off up the stairs and right before bursting through the doors he stopped himself. He reminded himself, he was a genin now and he had duties and responsibilities to handle, as well as a reputation to uphold. "_Time to go find out about mom" _he thought to himself. To be honest he was nervous, but that wasn't gonna stop him. He grabbed the handle and turned.

* * *

The Hokage smiled as he sensed the boy standing behind the door, he was slightly surprised the boy didn't just throw them open. He heard a turn and a click, and watched the door open. The boy stepped into his office, a slight look of apprehension in his face that soon shifted to one of determination. Sarutobi smiled, this boy really was something. "_I've a feeling your son is going to take the ninja world by storm, Minato." _

"Hello Lord Hokage." Naruto said slowly approaching the desk.

"Ah good to see you Naruto boy. Please come take a seat. I assume you're here to find out about your mother, no?"

"Yes sir, I've been looking forward to it since you told me."

"Not only have you earned your headband and become a genin, but you also stopped a very important traitor. Which by the way will be added to your record as a B-rank mission. You will be paid accordingly." Hiruzen smiled at Naruto. "You've made fine progress, Naruto."

"Thank you, Lord Hokage." Naruto smiled back,"but I believe you know why I'm here?"

"Ah yes to learn of your mother. And no need to be so formal my boy, it's just us in here right now.

"Alright old man. So..what was her name?" Naruto asked.

Hiruzen stood turning around and staring out the window over the village. "Your mother's name was Uzumaki Kushina."

"Uzumaki…. Kushina? That's a beautiful name."  
Naruto smiled at the Hokage's back.

"Aye my boy, a beautiful name it is. She was much more beautiful in person." Sarutobi sighed. "I wish with all my heart that she could be here to see you grow Naruto."

Naruto stared at the floor, he didn't really know what to say. "Do.. do you have a picture? Of her?" He heard the old Hokage sigh sadly and a drawer open. He looked up as a heard something slide across the desk toward him. Staring back at him was a beautiful red haired woman, smiling contently. "T-that's my mother? Uzumaki Kushina?"

"Yes." Sarutobi stated simply.

"Old man Hokage… did.. did she love me?" Naruto asked voice breaking and tears threatening to leak from his eyes.

"Your mother loved you more than anything on this planet. That I can say with absolute certainty." Sarutobi looked upon the boy with soft eyes. "Even in her last moments she thought of nothing but _you, _Naruto." Sarutobi sighed remembering the day he hated most in his long life.

**Flashback **

_The Third Hokage arrived at the spot where the nine tails had last been, and what greeted him was a dead Hokage, his near death wife, and a small baby boy with whisker marks on his cheeks. _

_A jounin leaned over the body of Minato, "Lord Fourth!" Getting no response he realized he was dead. _

_At the same time another jounin lifted Kushina into a sitting position. "Lady Kushina!" _

_Ignoring the jounin Kushina spoke, "Third.."_

_Sarutobi was in front of her in a second, Naruto securely held in his arms. "Kushina…."_

"_Please look after...my child.. his name is….Naruto." She said shakily drawing small breaths. "Minato and I….took it from a novel...by Jiraiya-Sensei."_

"_Naruto…" Sarutobi said,"I'll remember. I'll take full responsibility," The Hokage looked down at the boy, continuing, "so please don't speak anymore...for his sake, too." However when he looked up again, Kushina was dead._

**Flashback end.**

"Old man.. how.. did she die?" Naruto asked sadly.

"Protecting you, directly from the Nine Tails. She gave her life for yours. She loved you so so much my boy." Sarutobi said softly.

Naruto smiled sadly, "do you have more pictures, did you know her, can you tell me about her?" The boy asked rapidly.

"Of course my boy." The Hokage smiled more brightly this time. And Naruto grinned in response. Little did they know they would spend the next four hours, chatting about Kushina. The office that had minutes before, been filled with an air of sadness, slowly turned into a room that was so cheerful even Sasuke would smile just by stepping inside.

Naruto was to be a real ninja soon. With knowledge of his mother and her Will of Fire, nothing could stop him, he would uphold her legacy to the highest of standards. He was ecstatic.

* * *

_**A/N**_

_**That's a wrap. Hopefully you enjoyed the story. Leave a review if you have any questions. I don't have a super active beta, so I apologize for any writing mistakes. If anyone has some talent drawing characters, please let me know I've got an OC I want to see come to life. Anyways, thanks for reading! Have a great day!**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter** **Three**

_**Heyo! Welcome back for another chapter of The Son Of Two Heroes. Had fun writing Kakashi in this, please enjoy and leave a review if you feel like it!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, Kaka-Sensei would have taught his genin better.**_

* * *

Naruto was, for lack of a better term, extremely disappointed. "_This? This is a Jonin? What the hell!" _Said Jounin had been three hours late to pick his team up. Naruto was not happy and when the man walked in he simply leveled a light glare at the man. Sasuke bore a scowl and Sakura has a worried look after seeing the anger in her teammates faces.

Kakashi strolled into the room causally, but was met with an atmosphere of killing intent and worry. Looking to the two boys, he saw their glares and Sakura's worry. "My first impression of all of you is...you're extremely hostile." The Jounin stated with a bored tone, causing a sweat drop from all three fresh Genin. "Meet me on the roof in five minutes." He then disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Naruto smiled slightly but then he noticed something.

"_Why does his chakra signature feel so familiar?" _He mentally asked himself. Naruto quickly got up and walked out, making his way to the roof and prompting the other two of Team Seven to follow.

Arriving on the roof, the three new shinobi found their new sensei leaning against a railing. "Alright my cute little genin come sit down" he chuckled lightly. "Let's introduce ourselves then. Tell me about your likes and dislikes, and your dreams." Kakashi said.

"Can you go first as an example sensei?" The pink one asked.

"_Does she really need and example for this?"_ Kakashi mentally sweat dropped. "Yeah sure I suppose" sighing he continued "my name is Hatake Kakashi. I like some things and I dislike others. My dreams are none of your business." He eye smiled at them.

"_We only got his name." _The genin sweat dropped at their sensei.

"Alright pinkie you're up first."

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like.. I mean the thing I like-" she trailed off giggling and glanced at Sasuke. "I dislike Ino-pig, and foods that are too spicy." she giggled again. "Oh! My dream is to be a strong kunoichi, and one day start a family."

"Good enough I suppose, you're next whiskers."

Naruto grunted at the nickname but spoke anyway. "I have a name, It's Uzumaki Naruto!" He shouted. Calming himself he continued. "I like ramen, Ayame-nee, and my friends. I dislike traitors. My dream is to be Hokage. The greatest one yet, and to be faster than the Lord Fourth Hokage himself, as well as surpass my mother as a shinobi!"

"Alright duck butt. You're up."

"Hn." The last Uchiha grunted at the insult. "Fine. My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like nothing and dislike a lot of things. I don't have a dream, but an ambition. I will kill a certain man, and restore my clan."

"You actually like tomatoes though. And training, and me of course!" Naruto said with an ear splitting grin.

"Hn. Shut up dobe." Sasuke retorted.

"Oi. Hey I resent tha-.." Naruto started.

"Alright alright enough banter." Kakashi interrupted. "Meet me at training ground seven tomorrow at eight in the morning sharp for our first team exercise. And you shouldn't eat breakfast. You might throw up." He said with an eye smile. And then he was gone.

"..." the three genin were silent.

"...so you guys wanna go get some ramen?" Naruto then broke said silence

"Fine. You're paying dobe." Sasuke replied.

"What why would I pay? You're the one with all the money!" Naruto retorted

"...Hn"

"Alright fine I'll pay damnit." The blond grumbled as they began to walk off.

A few steps down the stairs Naruto stopped and turned around. "You coming Sakura?"

"I can? Right sorry yeah I'm coming!" She replied lighting up at being included.

Kakashi stood in front of the memorial stone, collecting his thoughts. He stretched his chakra making sure he was alone and then sighed aloud. "_Sensei... I have your son on my team. I'll train him well. I won't let what happened to our team happen again."_ Kakashi looked at the ground and smiled slightly. "_...he wants to surpass you not only in strength but in speed and even more so as Hokage. I've no doubt that he will one day. It seems Lord Third has also told him of Lady Kushina. Guide me please sensei. I'm glad I convinced Lord Third to give me him and Sasuke." _

**Flashback**

_Inu stood before the Hokage. "Sir?"_

"_Stand and remove your mask Inu." The Professor ordered. "Kakashi you will take a genin team again this year."_

"_...sir, no team has passed with me before; why would we keep doing this?" Kakashi inquired._

"_You will train Uchiha Sasuke. You're the only one who can." The old Hokage puffed on his pipe._

"_Fine. but I want Sensei's son too." Kakashi made his demand. If he was going to do this, he was going to protect his Sensei's legacy._

"_You cannot trai-.."_

"_Respectfully Lord Third, I won't miss my chance to train him. He needs someone who knows. How many years have you had me watch over him from the shadows? It's time sir." Kakashi demanded again, with more determination than the old Hokage has seen since the day Minato tasked Kakashi with overwatching Kushina's pregnancy._

"_Fine. On the condition that you do not reveal his heritage to him." Sarutobi sighed. "He must not be told. Not yet. When the time comes Jiraiya will return to the village to help train the boy. Eventually he will tell him."  
_  
**Flashback end.  
**  
Kakashi's thoughts wandered to Obito, wondering how things would be if they had traded places. "_Obito...I'll look after Sasuke and try to save him from his hatred, like you once did for me. Thank you, Obito."  
_—

The dawn of the next day saw three new genin stroll into training ground seven. Sasuke, stoic as ever, made no comment as they saw their Sensei was indeed not there yet. Sakura was looking quite annoyed with her sensei, and Naruto? Well he was currently snacking on a stick of dango and looked extremely bored.

"...Naruto, why are you eating, Sensei said not to eat breakfast." Sakura broke the silence.

"Nah," his mouth full of food was then swallowed and he cleared his throat. "He said we shouldn't eat breakfast. Not that we couldn't."

"That is absolutely..." A voice promising punishment started as Kakashi landed behind the genin. Tone suddenly softening he continued "...correct." Sakura nearly face faulted and Sasuke even deemed it worthy of a sweat drop. Naruto simply laughed.

"Alright!" Kakashi said clapping his hands together. "Time for your real genin test."

"What!?" Came the outraged shout of two out of the three students. Sasuke settling for a questioning grunt. Kakashi eye smiled at them and then pulled out a timer setting it on a post next to him. He then pulled out two bells and tied them to his waist.

"To become genin you must first take a bell from me. Any of you with a bell by the time this timer goes off, pass." He lowered his tone slightly and continued "However, anyone without will be sent back to the academy"

"But sensei there's only two bells?" Sakura questioned, "Does that mean-"

"Yes" Kakashi interrupted, "only two of you can pass this test. No matter what, one of you is going back to the academy."

"Shit high stakes then, alright let's get this done." Naruto stated.

"Come at me with the intent to kill. Otherwise you will not succeed." The Jounin stated. "Your test starts..now!" The genin immediately scattered and hid off in the trees.

Naruto observed the lazy Jounin with a calculating gaze. Wondering what exactly his game was. "_This test can't be normal. Why separate from a three man squad to a two man squad? No... he intends to put us against each other. Hmm... I see. Alright, I'll play along."_ Naruto thought to himself. "_Now who's going to make the first move? If I know Sasuke..."  
_  
The last Uchiha burst from the trees with a hail of kunai in front of him aiming at the Jounin. Speeding through hand seals he shot off a Jutsu "Fire style: Fireball Jutsu!" A large fireball left the boys mouth barreling at Kakashi. When the Jutsu cleared, all that remained was a burning log stuck with many kunai. "_A substitution? He's good."_ Thought Sasuke.

"Weren't you ever taught not to play with fire?" Kakashi asked from behind him book in hand.

"Don't underestimate me, I'm an Uchiha!" Sasuke shouted. Immediately he engaged Kakashi in a bout of Taijutsu, eventually forcing Kakashi to stash his book away. "I'm no ordinary genin!" He continued, as he came down with a heel drop intent on caving in the jounin's skull.

Kakashi caught his leg and slammed him face first into the ground. "First up: taijutsu, Not bad." He then disappeared, allowing the Uchiha to flip back onto his feet. Sasuke wearily looked around trying to find the jounin.

"Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu" Kakashi called out. His hand shot out of the ground grabbing his student's leg and dragging him into the earth, leaving only his head above the surface. "Second up: ninjitsu. Now stay here and think about what you did." The jounin said with an eye smile, subsequently disappearing.

Sakura snuck her way through the forest. Trying to find a good line of sight on the clearing.

"Third up: genjutsu." The jounin appeared behind the pink haired girl. "Demonic Illusion: Death Mirage Jutsu."

The girl found herself alone. "Sakura.. help...me" Sasuke said collapsing.

With that the pink haired girl fainted. Kakashi would be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed. That was way too easy. He would need to change that. "_Alright blondie, you're up."_ Kakashi thought to himself, disappearing in a body flicker back to the tree at the center of the clearing.

Naruto had seen enough. He was ready. He was fairly confident the jounin wouldn't expect his kunai substitution, however he wasn't going to fall for it more than once.

Kakashi was just about to get bored enough to initiate the fight when a volley of kunai shot out of the trees at him. He dodged them and simply waited, and his wait was rewarded as twelve Naruto's came charging out of the trees all jumping at him, fists cocked back. They all fazed right through him. The clone being only an illusion.

Naruto came from behind with a burst of speed launching into a spin kick. The white haired man batted the boy's leg away but was almost stunned to see Naruto instantly transition into a handstand that brought his opposite leg back around, leveled at the Jounin's head. He quickly caught the leg, moving to throw Naruto, only for him to suddenly be caught holding a log as another volley of kunai came at him from behind. He dodged and simultaneously dropped the log only for Naruto to appear out of thin air, hand gliding across a bell, but not enough to get a grip.

Realizing he couldn't make the grab, Naruto transitioned into a handstand spinning in place to bring his leg around to stroke Kakashi in the side. When Kakashi moved to catch the leg, Naruto suddenly let his arm buckle a bit causing the height of his leg to drop from his Sensei's midsection to his hip, just enough to avoid the hand poised to catch his leg and connect the kick did, with a log.

Naruto ate the dirt. "_A substitution with a kunai, impressive. Almost reminds me of Sensei."_ thought Kakashi as he slammed Naruto face down into the dirt. "Neat trick, certainly impressive, but you'll have to do better than that." He said to the boy. The blond craned his neck to smirk at his Sensei as a large fireball, courtesy of the last Uchiha, barreled toward them. Kakashi tossed Naruto out of the line of fire and quickly replaced himself with a log.

"Finally dug yourself out, eh? Sasu-chan" Naruto said with a grin.

"Shut up, loser I've got a bell to steal." said Sasuke with his ever so present attitude.

"No can do, sorry S'ke!" With that, Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the torso and dashed into the trees. Finally deep enough in, he stopped as the Uchiha has been kicking the crap out of him.

"Loser, what the _fuck._" Sasuke hissed.

"Quiet! You're really not as smart as you're thought to be, you know that right?" Naruto said with a quiet chuckle. "This is a test of team work, think about it. Or do I need to explain it to you bastard?

"Fuck, you're right. As much as I hate to admit it, it makes sense." Sasuke said begrudgingly.

"Of course I'm right dip shit." Naruto growled. "Anyway, we gotta find Sakura."

"Hn." Was his only reply.

Naruto stuck his finger to the ground and began spreading his chakra out over the clearing. Finally he locked into the pinkettes chakra signature. "Alright I've got her let's go!"

* * *

Kakashi stood unmoving in the clearing. "_Hmm.. I didn't really expect that Sasuke would rescue Naruto. I think I'll wait and see what happens next, this could be interesting." _The masked jounin thought to himself.

Just as he began to consider pulling out his book, a volley of shuriken came at him from the woods. Quickly turning, the jounin moved to deflect them when a hail of kunai shot out from the opposite side of the clearing. "_A pincer?" _Kakashi thought quickly, "_One of those kunai might end up being Naruto in a second." _The former ANBU deflected the shuriken, and quickly substituted with a log appearing across the clearing from where he had been standing.

"Fire style: Fireball Jutsu!" A fireball barreled toward Kakashi, ripping apart the clearing as it moved. Kakashi quickly dodged, then was confronted with a hail of shuriken. After deflecting them he then immediately caught Sasuke's foot as it moved to catch him in the shoulder. The jounin threw the boy away, who righted himself and threw another hail of shuriken at Kakashi.

As Sasuke landed, Kakashi called out, "you'll get nowhere doing this on your own!"

"I'm not alone!" The last Uchiha yelled back. In the back of his mind he thought, "_I haven't been alone for a while now because of you ne? Naruto?" _ He landed and flashed through hand seals again, "Fire style: Fireball Jutsu!" He smirked as it burnt toward the silver cyclops. "Naruto! Now!" He called out to his friend.

Two hails of kunai ripped from the trees at the new jounin sensei. He deflected them all and dodged others. As expected, one suddenly became Naruto, who launched a new set of kunai at the instructor as he turned to face the new combatant. The jounin's eye widened and he substituted with a log to escape and create distance. "Good! But where's the other one?" He called out.

"Right here, sensei." Sakura called as Kakashi looked and saw her standing alone, with one hand held in a snake hand seal. "Explode!" She yelled. Kakashi's eye widened as the hundred explosive tags around the field began to glow, microseconds later they resounded with a ball of fire and a thunder-clap like boom.

Kakashi appeared behind Sakura and caught her wrist as she tried to swing a kunai at him. "Enough." He said, "well done all of you, you pass." He eye smiled at the genin.

"Eh?" came the voice of Sakura and Naruto. "But we didn't get the bells sensei?" Sakura continued.

"It was never about the bells my little genin, it was all about teamwork and you've shown you have that in spades. I'm proud of all of you and you are all ready to be ninja." Kakashi had them all gather around the three posts at the far side of the clearing. Here he let them help themselves to the bento lunches he had waiting. As they ate he contemplated what to say next.

Ushering them over to the memorial stone, he began. "Upon this stone, we engrave the names of the heroes of Konoha. These are all shinobi who gave their lives in the line of duty for the village. Many of my friends names rest upon this stone. Along with that of my sensei."

"Who was your sensei, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked gently.

He eye smiled down at her, "Minato Namikaze, or as you may know him, Lord Fourth Hokage."

"What! No way! My sensei was trained by the Fourth Hokage himself! You've got to be super strong y'know!" Naruto's hands clapped over his mouth at the surprise of letting his verbal tic go in front of his new teammates and sensei.

"Kushina would be very proud of you Naruto." He eye smiled at the boy, who looked oh so much like his late sensei.

"Wait you knew mom!?"

"Yes I did, and I can tell you that the verbal tic of yours comes directly from her." Kakashi replied in a cheerful voice.

"Thank you Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said softly with a huge grin plastered on his face.

The masked man looked to the last Uchiha. "Sasuke, you've done well by your clan's name, and if they were here right now I'm sure that they would be very proud of you." Sasuke's eyes widened and a rare flicker of pure emotion shined through. After a moment, he settled back into his nonchalant, uncaring demeanor once again.

"Hn, thanks."

The jounin finally turned to the pinkette, "Sakura you have potential but there are many things you need to work on. But I'm sure you do your family proud as well."

"Thank you Kakashi-sensei!" She said smiling widely.

"A very wise shinobi once taught me a very valuable lesson." Kakashi began. "Those that break the rules are trash. But those who abandon their comrades, are worse than trash." Kakashi sighed, remembering Obito "It's a saying that should be beaten into your heads at the academy, but that doesn't happen, so I'll do it myself" He eye smiled once again.

* * *

Over the next three months, Team Seven would meet everyday in the morning and do team and individual training until the early afternoon. After that, they would head to the Hokage tower and acquire and complete six D-rank missions. They quickly became Konoha's top rookie genin team with five hundred and forty six completed D-ranks under their belt. Adding to their feats, the instructor taught Sasuke and Sakura tree climbing and water walking. While doing so, he also helped Naruto complete his water walking training. Kakashi felt they would be ready.

* * *

Team Seven walked through the door of the Hokage's office. Kakashi eye smiled at the Hokage and gave a greeting, "Yo."

"Ah Kakashi, here to start your daily D-ranks?" Sarutobi smiled "I have a few here.." he trailed off while shuffling around papers.

"Ah actually Lord Hokage, I'm here to request a C-tank for my cute little genin."

"Oh? It is about time now, isn't it. Hmm, let me see here... bandits have been seen around Neba village, abnormally large wolves have been terrorizing Hashikawa village , there's also be-"

"Lord Hokage, we'll take the bandit mission sir." Kakashi interrupted.

"Alright it's settled. Team Seven is to dispatch immediately to Neba village in eastern Hi no Kuni. You will meet with the village elder, Iijima Tohaku." The Hokage gave his orders, and the team set out.

After exiting the tower, Kakashi turned to face his team. "Alright guys, I want you to go home, pack one weeks worth of gear and meet me at the east gate, understood?"

A chorus of "Yes Kakashi-sensei!" came from the three child soldiers.

He chuckled, "It's about a full days travel to Neba village, so be ready for a walk"

"Got it." The team scattered.

* * *

"Nice to meet you, mister Iijima." Kakashi said as he and his team bowed before the village elder.

"Thank you for coming to assist us, mister Hatake." The elderly man bowed. "We've had trade caravans and travelers reporting that they have been confronted by bandits all around the village outskirts. Please take care of this problem for us."

"Of course mister Iijima, we'll be off then. We shall report back when the mission is complete." The white haired man replied. The team turned sharp and headed outside of the village. The jounin turned to face his team. "I won't lie to you. It would be wrong to do so. There is a high probability that you will either witness a kill or directly kill someone yourself on this mission. I'm hoping you don't freeze up if you do so. However, don't worry as I will be watching over all three of you. Another possibility is that if the bandit group is large, there may missing-nin amongst them. So be _careful._ Understood?"

"Yes sensei" Came the reply of all three students. The masked man stared at them a minute longer before signaling for them to follow him toward a spot that a carriage had been attacked. Upon arriving at the day old scene, Kakashi began to investigate. Taking note of the area, he found a series of drag marks. With closer inspection, he deduced that chests of goods had been dragged sloppily back to the bandit camp.

"Come.," He said, "We'll follow this trail to the camp, scout it out, make a plan, and then take care of the problem. Understood?" The three genin all nodded their heads at him. With that, they took off along the trail. Team Seven was on the hunt.

* * *

_**And that's that! Hope you had a good time reading! Anyway, check out the story of one of my close friends, and the guy who keeps me from making these chapters be riddled with mistakes. His name is sour sensei. The story is Naruto Namikaze, Spark of the Leaf. Please give it a read! Anyway see ya next time y'know!**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

_**Howdy! Welcome to the Fourth installation of The Son Of Two Heroes!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, Lots more death woulda happened.**_

* * *

When Naruto had heard the term "bandit camp" he had not envisioned what he was seeing currently. The team was perched on a rocky outcrop looking over the forest below them. In it was a large clearing filled to the brim with tents and carts. When he had heard bandit problem he had thought of maybe a group of ten to twenty. Not the view that greeted him of somewhere between one to two _hundred _bandits strolling about. All sorts of weapons floated around between them, from swords to scythes and even axes, if you could think of it, someone down there probably had one.

"Uhh… Kakashi-sensei, how exactly do you plan for us to deal with all of _this_?" Naruto quietly broke the silence with his question. "I'm sure we could take these guys but there's a lot of 'em."

"I'm ashamed to admit it but, the idiots right. there really is a lot." Sasuke stared down scouting and trying to see a plan. "Gotta be something between a hundred and fifty to two hundred guys down there."

"Let's back off for now kiddies." Kakashi said and began making his way away from the edge. The three genin quickly moved to follow them.

* * *

Later that day about an hour before dusk Kakashi gathered his team around him. "Alright, listen up." Making sure he had the attention of all three, he then continued. "There's a ravine at the end of the clearing they are camped in. I'm going to use a water style jutsu, followed by an earth style jutsu to force them from camp and into the ravine." Kakashi sighed, "my jutsu will most likely neutralize a large amount of them, however it won't get everyone. That is why you three will be using the ravine as a killbox."

"Wait a killbox?" Sakura asked. "But these are people we can't just slaughter them like animals."

Kakashi sighed once again and crouched level with the pinkette. "I know that it doesn't seem right, but as shinobi, _this _is what we do Sakura. On top of it those men are scum, who have chosen a path of torture, and rape. Along with killing and kidnaping people for their own greed. They sell people into slavery. As such we put them down like rabid dogs."

Sakura's eyes widened unbelieving at his words. "Is this...really what it means to be a shinobi?"

The masked jounin looked at her as if trying to find the right words. "Sakura look at your teammates, they have already steeled their resolve and are ready to do this. They understand what they signed up for. I know it feels wrong, but one day all of you will find a way to cope with such acts. This is the life of a shinobi, and if you can't handle it I won't force you down this path any farther."

Sure enough when Sakura turned around to her teammates she could see that they had steeled themselves and understood exactly what it meant to be a shinobi.

"A-Alright sensei. I'll do it, I picked this path and I'm not just going to abandon my dreams!" The sole female shinobi said, with a air of confidence.

He ruffled her hair. "That's the spirit!" Turning to the boys he asked, "are you guys ready?"

The two boys shared a glance at one another, and turned their attention back to their sensei. "Let's get this done." They replied in unison.

"Be ready when you see my jutsu go off." Kakashi said. The team began to set up along the ravine, Sakura at the end where the ravine started to turn into open ground once again. Naruto and Sasuke positioned along opposite sides of the pass, spaced to cover more distance. Sakura planted sets of paper bombs all along the ravine so she could set them off as bandits passed, to neutralize them as well as force them to keep going forward.

When all was done, Kakashi moved away to the rock outcropping they had used to overwatch the camp just hours before. Carefully making his way down to where he was only above the clearing by about forty feet, he began to flash through hand seals, "Water Style: Exploding Water Shock Wave!" A massive wave of water swept through the camp smashing men into everything around them. When the water began to settle some men had drowned but most were injured or heading for the ravine. The jounin sped through another set of hand seals, "Earth style: Mud River!" A raging avalanche of mud and earth slid down the slope effectively washing away the camp and destroying everything in its path, as well as swallowing up any stragglers who hadn't made it to the ravine.

In total only about eighty men made it in. As the first group got the farthest along, a paper bomb went off underneath them. The loud echoing boom resounded through the passage, as more paper bombs went off courtesy of the pinkette, only about forty bandits were left. However in a hail of kunai and shuriken from Naruto and Sasuke respectively that number was cut in half. Unbeknownst to them four men slid past and ran toward Sakura who threw a handful of shuriken at them, but it only dropped three, the thrown weapons buried in their heart. The last man having caught one in his shoulder. Sakura froze at seeing the three men she had just killed die so close to her.

"You're dead girly!" The last man said bringing his sword to bare, poised to strike the girl down like nothing. Suddenly a swath of kunai landed behind him, and as he turned he caught sight of black with a hint of orange before a kunai inclosed in a fist slammed into his skull, which burst with blood covering Naruto's face. He froze momentarily registering the look of shock and utter fear on the man's face as he killed him, but remembering he had done so to save Sakura, he regained his composure.

"Sakura! Are you alright?" Naruto yelled at the girl.

"Huh...Naruto?" She said still dazed. "Y-you just saved my life didn't you. Thank you." She said falling to her knees.

"No problem," he said then turned and called out through the ravine over Sasuke's little killzone, "Kaka-sensei! Come look after Sakura!" And with that Naruto flew back into the fray with Sasuke, between the two of them they utterly bodied the rest of the bandits with taijutsu and kunai alone.

Kakashi watched as Naruto pierced the skull of the last bandit with a kunai. As the bandit dropped dead he noticed the look of sadness in his eyes. Sasuke and Naruto then landed next to him, covered in a fairly large amount of blood. "Good work team. I'm proud of you, you all did well for your first time doing something like this." Kakashi sighed, "head down the hill about another half mile and there's a stream, you boys go get cleaned up and I'll take care of Sakura, alright?"

"Yes sir." the boys said together and disappeared from view.

"Sakura, I need you to look at me. Can you do that for me?" Kakashi asked the shell shocked girl. Her thousand yard stare turned to meet Kakashi's dark grey eyes. She nodded dumbly. "Sakura, you did what you had to do and what was required of a shinobi. On top of that it was kill or be killed. If you hadn't killed those three men they most definitely would have killed you before Naruto could have possibly got them all." Kakashi sighed, "harden your heart, for this is something we deal with everyday. However don't forget that it's all right to feel remorse and regret over taking a life, that remorse and that feeling is what keeps us human. If you ever begin to enjoy it, _that_ is when you become a monster. And you're no monster Sakura. Trust me, I've seen many."

Sakura sobbed slightly but took shaky deep breaths and replied, "thank you, sensei."

"Of course!"

* * *

"S'ke?"

"What Naruto?"

"How ya doin'?"

"Shouldn't you be focused on how _you _are doing and not on how I'm doing loser." Sasuke grumbled.

Naruto stared into the river. His reflection in the bloody water staring back at him. "It's easier for me to worry about others, than it is to worry about myself."

"That's why your a loser dip shit." Sasuke sighed, "but I'm fine. Thanks loser."

"Heh what can I say I've never had friends, so that's why every new friend I make matters so much to me. You were my first friend, you _are_ my best friend, and your almost closer to family to me than even Old Man Hokage." Naruto said. He didn't exactly know why he was actually admitting this, but he figured it was just the shell shock he was still experiencing. Upon Naruto finishing his statement, Sasuke's eyes widened to gigantic proportions, and his gaze turned to the golden haired shinobi.

In the back of Sasuke's mind rang the words of his brother on that night long ago. _"There is no value in killing the likes of you… My foolish brother… If you want to kill me… curse me! Hate me! And live a long and unsightly life… Run away… run away… and cling to your pitiful life. And then some day, when you have the same eyes as I do, come before me." _

Sasuke stared wide eyed still at Naruto. This boy who had forced his way into Sasuke's life, was more of a brother to him than even Itachi had been in their childhood. "_Could it be, that the path I'm on is not the correct one? Is hatred truly the answer, or has Naruto been right from the start?" _Sasuke thought to himself. "Yeah," he grunted out in reply to Naruto.

Naruto turned to Sasuke and threw a rock at him. "Get clean bitch boy!" He said laughing as he walked off.

Sasuke grunted and stood up. "Fuck you Uzumaki."

* * *

The Team was now back in Neba village, standing before the village elder. "Our mission is complete sir, the bandits are taken care of."

"Thank you very much. It's always a pleasure to have you Konoha ninja around. I bid you safe travels home."

"Thank you sir." Kakashi said as he bowed. He and his team then began their journey home. "So, my cute little genin. Other than the obvious bad part, how was your first excursion outside of the village?"

"It's really neat to see new places like this, Kakashi-sensei. Will we be taking more missions like this in the future?" Naruto asked with a almost excited tone.

"I rather enjoyed the views myself as well." Sakura said, "but I'm glad to be going home!"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted. "It was alright. But not anything special."

"Pfft you're always such a downer S'ke at least be slightly enthusiastic." Naruto said crossing his arms.

"Oh please loser. You have enough enthusiasm to make up for the entire team." The raven haired boy replied.

"Glad to see you all having fun." The sensei of Team Seven remarked. Unfortunately he and Sakura would have to listen to the boys bicker the entire way home.

* * *

Kakashi and his team stood before the aging Hokage. "Team Seven reporting from first C-ranked mission sir. I'm happy to report that the mission was a complete success and these genin handled themselves quite well."

"Ahh yes, good to have you back Kakashi." The old shinobi replied packing and igniting his pipe. "That's one C-rank added to your official record. Well done, if that is all Kakashi would you mind staying behind a moment?"

"Of course sir." Kakashi turned to his students, "you three should go get some ramen or bbq and I'll will meet you there after I'm done here." He finished with an eye smile.

"Sounds good, later sensei!" And the three were off.

"So Kakashi, how did they handle the first time kills?"

"It really broke Sakura down quite a bit," Kakashi said sadly, "however she is back to her normal self. I believe Naruto and Sasuke dealt with it by talking amongst each other. I'm really not all that worried about those too. They will make fine careers as shinobi." Kakashi finished with

a smile.

"Aye that they will." The Hokage said, exhaling a plume of smoke. "And how exactly is Naruto coming along in his training?"

"Well Lord Third, he finished his water walking training while I trained the other two in tree climbing. So that's out of the way. Mentally as a shinobi when we get into battle his head is clear. He's calm and collected, he's almost like Minato sensei if I'm to be honest sir. He still hasn't seemed to make contact with, nor use the power of the Nine Tailed Fox." Kakashi recounted his progress with Team Seven, deciding the needed to be a lot stronger before they went running into the next mission.

"Good I'm glad to hear the boy is making progress." The Professor then snuffed out his pipe and put it away. "Well I suppose that will be all then Kakas-..."

"Actually Lord Third there was something I wanted to ask you." The jounin interrupted tone completely serious.

"Oh? Please do, ask away." The god of shinobi said with a raised brow.

"It's well know that elemental jutsu training is mostly reserved for chunin and above, however I believe the potential in this team is extremely high. I would like your permission to begin teaching them fairly high level techniques and test their elemental affinities. Also sir I would like to train Naruto in the Fourth's hummingbird fist taijutsu." Kakashi said voice in full business mode.

"Hmm. I suppose it can't hurt to properly start our most promising team off with some new jutsus. Alright I approve your request. Along with your request to train Naruto in Minato's style. However not a _word _is to be spoken about who he really is to Naruto. Is that understood Hatake?" The Third Hokage said in a tone that promised severe punishment for any disobedience of his order.

"Yes sir Lord Third." The former ANBU said. "I'll take my leave then."

* * *

The three genin sat eating an bickering at Ichiraku Ramen. Naruto suddenly spun around in his seat and smiled. "Hiya sensei! What's up?" He said to the empty street, cause Sakura, Teuchi, and Ayame to all adopt a confused expression. However just as Sakura was about to ask what he was talking about. Kakashi appeared right before the blond boy.

"Yo Naruto." He laughed.

Sakura was visibly stunned. "Wha.. how.. Wha" she muttered out.

"Sakura you dolt, Naruto is a sensor type. How have you not picked up on that?" Sasuke quipt.

"Wow… I guess I never did really notice… sorry Naruto." The girl said.

"Heh it's fine Sakura." Naruto stated.

"Now now, you kids gotta come with me. There's training to be done." Kakashi said "I suppose I can pay just this once." He leaned over and paid for their meals. Turning around he bid the father daughter duo goodbye. "Later Teuchi, Ayame, we'll have to catch up sometime."

"Of course Kakashi, stop by anytime!" Teuchi called out to the teams backs as they made their way from the shop.

The team followed their sensei to training ground seven. Here, they gathered around the three wooden posts. "Alright listen closely as I don't want to repeat myself." The jounin started with an authoritative tone. "We're going to test your elemental affinities today."

"Wait, really!? No way this will be awesome!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

"Pipe down Naruto I'm not done." Kakashi said with a stern look. "Now as I was saying I'm going to test your affinities, after which I intend to give you all a jutsu to learn before our next mission that we will be taking at the end of next week. I want all of you to try to have them mastered by then, or at least be proficient with the jutsu. Understood?"

"Yes Sensei!" The three called back to him.

"Alright then let's get this started." Hatake opened a pouch on his vest and produced three pieces of chakra paper. "Take these in your dominant hand and then slowly push your chakra into them." He then handed the papers out. "If your affinity is fire, it will burn, water it will turn soggy, wind it will split, lightning it will crinkle, and earth it will crumble. Go ahead and start." He ordered to his team. He thought to himself, "_let's see what we're working with."_

Sakura went first pushing her chakra into the paper and it crumbled in her hand. "Earth, it's not rare but it is a strong element. Especially good for defensive jutsu." The masked man commented.

Sasuke took his turn and followed after Sakura, his paper crinkling before setting alight. "Fire and lightning, not bad. I'm also a lightning type." He eye smiled at the Uchiha boy

Naruto finished for the group by pushing his chakra into the paper, causing it to split in half before turning soggy and dissolving into water. "Wind and water. Wind is very rare in the land of fire, as I know of only two shinobi in Konoha have natural wind affinities. One of whom being Sarutobi Asuma. And water to boot, also a good element. I'm surprised to see two of my students have dual affinities." Kakashi then put his hands into the clone seal, "shadow clone jutsu." Two identical Kakashi's appeared next to him. "Any one of you who can get their jutsu down before the weekend is over, I will teach a second jutsu to you." He then had Sasuke and Sakura head off with one of his clones each.

Kakashi stared at Naruto before eye smiling at him, "ready?" He asked.

"Of course sensei!" The boy responded ready to learn.

"Alright Naruto now, just so you know, high level techniques require additional chakra control training as well as elemental control training. So don't go off trying to learn any high level wind or water techniques without having me there to help, alright?" Kakashi's clones were also giving the same talk to his other two students.

"Yes sir!" The boy was practically bouncing up and down at this point. Because of this the jounin gave him a rather stern look, and the boy immediately composed himself and quieted.

"Now the jutsu I'm going to teach you is called Wind Style: Great Breakthrough. Watch my hands alright?" Kakashi then began to move through the seals for the technique aiming for the middle of the clearing. Tiger, Ox, Dog, Rabbit, Snake, "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" He yelled, and a massive gust of wind burst through the clearing, ripping the leaves off of many trees. "You get that?"

"Yep Kaka-sensei! Can I try now?" He asked impatiently.

"Yes but let me walk you through it alright? After you run through the hand seals, you'll gather wind chakra to your lungs and blow out a stream of air. Go ahead and try now." The instructor was curious as to how exactly this was going to go.

Naruto burst into action sliding through hand seals and releasing the jutsu, "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" He yelled and watched in pure disbelief as his first wind jutsu ripped a single leaf off of a tree. He face planted in shame.

"Get up Naruto. That's too be expected on your first try. Again." Kakashi ordered.

"Yes sir." The boy grumbled flashing through hand seals and repeating the process, however still only tearing a single leaf from a tree.

"When mastered and filled with chakra this jutsu can go from C to A rank in no time. You have the potential for that." Kakashi advised. "Again."

Once again wind ripped through the trees. "Again." This time two leaves left the tree. "Again." The same result. "Again." This continued until dark at which point Naruto was able to ruffle the entire tree and shake it as well as taking some leaves off of it. Unfortunately he still did not have mastery over the jutsu. "We'll meet here tomorrow morning. Be on time"

* * *

It was early morning when Sakura and Sasuke entered the clearing to find Naruto and Kakashi standing at the far side. "Again" Kakashi's voice floated across the field followed by a gust of wind that ripped a branch off the tree.

"Ha! Look I did it Y'know!" Naruto's hands clapped over his mouth at letting out his verbal tic.

"Sometimes you really are just like Kushina, Naruto." Kakashi said with an eye smile.

"Thank you Kaka-sensei." Naruto then noticed to rest of Team Seven standing there. "Oh hey guys! What's up?"

"Hello Naruto." Responded Sakura.

"Hn. Loser." Sasuke grunted out. "What jutsu are you learning?" He asked wondering.

"Wind style: Great Breakthrough." Naruto smiled, "how about you guys?"

The pinkette spoke first, "Earth Style: Hidden Mole Jutsu."

Sasuke followed up with, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu."

"Ne Sasuke? Think we could combine our jutsu for a combination?" Naruto asked.

"I don't see why it wouldn't work." The Uchiha replied.

"Thinking ahead aren't we? Your chakra natures are a perfect match not only to go against each other in spars, but also to work together in unison for a better effect." Kakashi interdicted. "You all have great potential." He chuckled then continued. "Alright Sakura head off with the clone, Naruto my other clone will stay here and oversee your progress, Sasuke, come with me."

The clearing was once again filled with the repetition of "Again." Followed by a gust of wind. It would continue until dusk.

"Naruto with this much chakra you're capable of being an artillery battery of jutsu. I'm going to expand your ninjutsu arsenal as much as I can." Kakashi eye smiled at the boy. "Now one more time. Again."

Naruto inhaled and then released his jutsu only to watch as it ripped the tree in the center of the clearing right out of the ground. Kakashi's eye widened. "Naruto, how exactly did you pull that off?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, "well you see sensei, I kinda got frustrated and poured a bunch of chakra into it."

"Again."

"Huh?"

"Do it again Naruto. We need to see if you can replicate that."

"Yes sir," he said speeding through hand seals and inhaling heavily. He poured chakra into his lungs and released his jutsu. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" The wind tore through the clearing and tossed the downed tree another twenty yards across the clearing.

"Well done Naruto I truly am impressed, I'm going to dispel now to let the original know what happened." The clone burst into smoke.

* * *

Over the next three days Sasuke would master his jutsu as well, meaning that the boys would get a second jutsu to work on. Sakura had not but Kakashi knew she was getting close, he also had her firing on all cylinders. He worked her half to death every day to try to build up her chakra reserves.

Kakashi would teach Naruto and Sasuke their new jutsu over the next week as well as helping Sakura perfect hers, he also began having her learn medical ninjutsu. For Naruto he taught him the Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu. He felt that with Naruto's reserves it would be a great asset. He didn't want to try with the Shadow Clone yet as he would need to convince the Hokage that it was a good idea. In the long run the Multi Shadow Clone jutsu could turn out to be one of the most deadly in Naruto's arsenal.

He had taught the self proclaimed avenger a lightning jutsu. Lightning Style: Lightning Bolt. A C-rank jutsu that was essentially the lightning version of the Water Style: Water Pistol Jutsu. Sasuke has picked up the lightning jutsu much faster than Kakashi was expecting, and he was proud of his team. It was time to get their next C-rank, so they made their way to the Hokage tower.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

_**Heyo! Welcome to the fifth chapter kiddos! It's time! I've been rolling without my beta sour sensei, he's busy trying not to die, so please go easy on me for any mistakes. Love y'all and I'm super surprised at how well this story is doing, hope y'all continue to love it!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, Sakura would be slightly less useless.**_

* * *

Kakashi and his team were currently making their way down a road. Client in tow, they were in route to the Land of Waves. Tazuna the bridge builder had requested a C-rank escort mission to his home country. Located south of the Land of Fire, the Land of Waves needed Tazuna to complete his bridge to increase trade opportunities.

Naruto was walking alongside Sasuke at the front of the group, when he noticed a puddle. It hadn't rained in weeks. "_Oh come on that's just fuckin sloppy. Who does that." _Naruto thought. Clearing his throat he said to Sasuke, "you're a fuckin scrub you know that right? You couldn't even use my water jutsu properly when you tried."

Sasuke got the message loud and clear, having noticed the puddle himself. "Fuck you Uzumaki."

The puddle came to life, as two nin burst from it wrapping Kakashi in their chain, and then splitting him in half. "One down!" The nin said in unison. A lightning bolt courtesy of Sasuke's lightning pistol jutsu hit home on their chain, shocking both of the nin and forcing the to detach from each other.

Sakura sped through hand seals and called out, "Earth Style: Hidden Mole Jutsu!" Dragging herself and Tazuna underground and out of the way. The two nin engaged in combat with Naruto and Sasuke.

Locking kunai with Naruto, one of the nin growled. Naruto responded in kind with the addition of "what kind of idiot scrub are you! That was the worst plan I've ever seen!" The nin growled again and launched back away from the golden haired boy. The Jinchūriki threw a hail of kunai at the nin, who batted some out of the way with his gauntlet, and dodged the last four. Only for the kunai that was closest to him directly behind his back to suddenly become Naruto, who kicked the nin into the air.

Sasuke on the other hand got caught up in hand to hand with the second nin. The nin who's experience was giving him the upper hand, got over confident and left a opening that the Uchiha gladly exploited, kicking him hard enough to crack his ribs. Sasuke shot away from the nin and flew through hand seals, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower jutsu!" spitting a volley of small fireballs at his opponent it was enough to light the man's cloak on fire.

Throwing his cloak from his body he prepared to re-engage with the Uchiha when he saw his brother fall from the sky.

"Uzumaki Hammer!" Naruto yelled after punching the man hard enough in the face to break his nose, the man landed face up on the ground only to meet a kunai through the heart as the blond substituted with one of his kunai still on the ground. Naruto looked at the dead nin and immediately shifted his attention to Sasuke.

"Meizu! You fuck! I'm gonna kill you!" The nin was enraged.

A voice came from behind as the ring of a kunai handle impacted the back of his skull, knocking him out. "You let your guard down," came Sasuke's disappointed tone.

"Wow! Well done kiddies! You can come up now Sakura!" Kakashi called out to his genin.

Sakura bust from the ground, Tazuna in tow. The old bridge builder looked at the jounin and said, "wait a minute! Didn't you just die!?"

"I used a substitution, I am a jounin after all, but most importantly I had to see if they were after me for my bounty. Or after you. Start talking Tazuna. Right now." Kakashi's tone hardened into a firm command.

"Right yes I'm sorry!" He dropped to his hands and knees. "Our village is too poor to pay for anything above a C-rank mission. It took everything we had to scrounge up that much money."

"In that case you should have explained your situation to our Hokage. He would have gladly made a deal with your country. Now why are there missing nin after you?" Kakashi said to the old drunk.

The man sobbed and said, "the truth is there's a super dangerous man after me, you may have heard of him, his name is Gato."

"Gato?" Kakashi asked slightly surprised, "as in the shipping magnate? What could he possibly want with you?"

"He took over the Land of Waves with his company, he effectively ruined the economy. And we're bankrupt. Building my bridge would kickstart the economy again and his company wouldn't be able to keep hold of us anymore." He sobbed loudly, "please you have to help me!"

"Standard procedure states that we return to the village at once." The jounin said. "This mission is no longer a C-rank and by that right your contract is null and void."

"Ah I see…" the bridge builder replied. "I guess Gato's thugs will just kill me and my super cute daughter and grandson will cry for weeks, and my super cute grandson will grow up hating Konoha forever." He sobbed out.

The whole team shared one thought, "_this is a grown man?" _But still all looked at each other. Kakashi turned to his genin. And asked, "this is no longer a mission you have to do. Any of you can turn around and go back to the village. This mission could very well be your last. I can't order you to go so what's it gonna be?"

"Say sensei, as Konoha shinobi, don't we take it upon ourselves to help anyone in need, even more so than the other great villages? So to hold up our values and the will of fire, I'm going to go save that village. With or without you sir." Naruto voiced his reply.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted. "I have to make sure this idiot doesn't die or get all the credit."

"If they're in, then I'm in too sensei! We're a team!" Sakura said with enthusiasm.

"Alright then so be it, let's move out." The former ANBU said.

"Right!"

* * *

"Thank you Ken. I know you stuck your neck out for me this time." The old bridge builder said to the fisherman as the team dismounted the boat.

"Yeah no problem, just get that bridge built." With that the fisherman floated away.

"Alrighty! It's not too long of a walk to the main village. I'll lead you there!" Tazuna said with a bit more enthusiasm than he had shown the whole way here.

As they walked along Naruto immediately sensed the large chakra signature, responding in kind Naruto took Tazuna and Sakura to the ground a full eight seconds before Kakashi even yelled "get down!"

A massive sword flew through the air above them where their heads had been. The sword imbedded itself into a tree and a man appeared on top of it. With bandages covering his face, his carved Kiri forehead protector sideways upon his head, and brandishing camouflage pants, Momochi Zabuza stood before Team Seven. He then proceeded to give them a taste of _real _killing intent.

Kakashi spoke first, "Momochi Zabuza, A-ranked missing nin from Kirigakure. Also known as the Demon of Kirigakure." Uncovering his left eye, revealing his Sharingan, Kakashi continued. "I'll need this to deal with you!"

"Hatake Kakashi…or Kakashi of the Sharingan. I'm honored." Zabuza said.

"You three! Stay back and protect Tazuna with your lives! Stay out of this fight." The legendary jounin ordered.

"It's useless to have them protect him." Zabuza said channeling all of his killing intent at the three genin. Sasuke began to lift his kunai toward his throat.

"_It's over, I'm done for! I might as well just get it over with." _Sasuke thought under the immense pressure of Zabuza's killing intent.

"Sasuke! Stop! I'll protect you all with my life! I won't let my comrades die." Kakashi said reassuringly.

"Hidden Mist Jutsu!" Zabuza yelled.

Zabuza suddenly appeared inside the circle of genin, aiming to cleave their heads off along with Tazuna's with a single swing. Just as the genin thought it was all over Kakashi's hand ran through the mans chest, kunai firmly in his grip. Zabuza's body turned into a pool of water, Zabuza appearing behind the copy nin and cleaving him in half only for him to turn to water himself. Kakashi appeared behind the missing nin. "It's over Momochi."

Before Kakashi could strike a second Mist nin appeared behind him throwing him into the nearby lake. As the copy nin came to the surface he was trapped in the swordsman's water prison jutsu. "Naruto! Take our team and run! This fight was over the minute I got caught. His water clones can't go far from his body, so run!" Kakashi yelled at the genin, then thought to himself, "_looks like I've failed once again…. sensei."_

Three of Zabuza's water clones made their way towards the genin.

"Pffft! As if! A ninja who abandons his comrades is worse than scum! And I'm most definitely not scum! I won't run! Not now! Not ever!" Naruto shouted. "Sasuke! Combo five formation B!"

"Got it!" The Uchiha yelled in retort.

"_Just what the hell are they doing?!" _Thought the copycat nin.

Secretly under Kakashi's nose the two boys had been meeting for three hours at midnight to practice combat plans, have spars, and try to perfect their first collaboration jutsu. Naruto and Sasuke dashed to opposite sides of the clearing as twelve perfect copies of Naruto ran at Zabuza from where he and Sasuke had been standing. "This brats gonna try to use academy clones on me! What and idiot." The bandaged man laughed aloud, but his eyes widened upon watching one of the clones pull a kunai out and wreck one of his water clones. The other two of the mist nin's clones quickly neutralized the Naruto clones. Zabuza's eyes widened again when he saw they were water clones. Sasuke burst from the trees on the right side of the clearing running at the missing nin kunai drawn.

"No Sasuke! Keep your distance!" Kakashi yelled. But it was too late, and the missing nin clone cleaved Sasuke in half only for him to revert to a Naruto Clone that then dissolved into water. Kakashi's eyes widened as they had many time before, "_what absolute brilliance! Naruto is a wonderful strategist!"_

At the same moment the clone was split in half, Naruto and Sasuke burst from the tree line on the left flying through hand seals in unison. They then both fired off said jutsu. They called out in perfect sync as they had done hundreds of times before.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

The wind boosted the fireball's speed and doubled its size as the jutsu barreled toward the two water clones, which were instantly evaporated from the immense heat. Suddenly a fuma shuriken burst from the fireball straight at the real Zabuza's head, he caught the offending object and was about to taunt the boys when he saw a second shuriken that had been hidden in the first shuriken's shadow. Zabuza promptly jump over the secondary. "Not bad for rookies! But still not enough!" At that moment the shuriken behind him turned into Naruto who tossed a kunai at the mans head. The missing nin moved his head quickly to the side and watched the knife move past him, only for it to suddenly become Naruto's sandal courtesy of the boy's kunai substitution, and Zabuza subsequently ate shoe and was forced to release Kakashi. The copy nin immediately threw Naruto away from the two nin and back to shore.

"Excellent work boys! I'll take it from here." Kakashi called to his genin. Copying and flashing through hand seals Kakashi and Zabuza both let off a jutsu.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

The two jutsu collided and cancelled each other out. The two high level ninja would duke it out for another ten minutes before finally both launched back and began to speed through hand seals once again. This time Kakashi was faster thanks to a Sharingan Genjutsu he had placed on Zabuza to make his movements more sluggish. Zabuza gasped, "can you see the future?!"

"Yes," said the copy ninja, "and your future is death." He let loose his jutsu, "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" Which smashed into Zabuza with extreme force. Kakashi made his way to the mist nin's broken and beaten body, preparing a kunai to finish the job when a Kirigakure hunter-nin appeared as several sebon impaled Zabuza's neck.

"Thank you. I've been tracking him for some time now."

Kakashi eyed the hunter-nin, "I want to make sure he's dead if that's alright?

"By all means Copy nin Kakashi." The hunter replied. The battered jounin leaned down and felt for Zabuza's pulse. Finding none, and completely exhausted Kakashi let the nin take off with the body before turning to his genin.

"You all did well I'm very pr-..." Kakashi passed out, and in a quick burst of speed Naruto caught his teacher.

"Old man Tazuna! Take us to your home!" Naruto ordered.

Startled Tazuna reigned himself in and quickly replied, "oh right! Yes! Right away follow me!"

As the group made their way to the bridge builders house, Naruto spoke up. "Hey S'ke?"

"What is it loser?"

"Thanks for the help. I definitely couldn't have done that alone."

Sasuke's only reply was to stare into the sky with a blank look on his face. Between revenge, and acceptance and camaraderie amongst his friends. Which did he really want the most? These thoughts would plague him for the rest of the day.

* * *

"And then me and that duck butt over there launched a collaboration jutsu we'd been working on, and totally fried those water clones!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

"You can't fry water you dip shit." Sasuke remarked.

"Sasuke! There's a child in this house! Watch your damn mouth." Sakura shouted at the boy.

Naruto and Sasuke sat and stared wide eyed at the pinkette. Faces contorted in disbelief. The girl blushed and sat down. "Just because I like you, doesn't mean I have to go easy on you Uchiha Sasuke. You're almost as bad as Naruto sometimes."

At that moment Naruto burst into laughter. Sakura soon followed and Sasuke even began to chuckle lightly. And this was the scene that greeted Hatake Kakashi as he entered the dining room of the house.

"Well, I'm glad to see you all have been enjoying yourselves. Thank you for the hospitality Mister Tazuna and you as well…." Kakashi trailed off staring at the woman inclining her to give him her name.

"Oh pardon me I'm Tsunami, nice to meet you mister?"

"Hatake Kakashi, it's a pleasure."

"Sensei?" Naruto cut in, "should you really be up and about already?"

"Yes I'll be fine Naruto but thank you for your concern." Kakashi reassured the boy. "Now I want you all to know that I'm fairly certain Zabuza is still alive. And I'd say we've got about a week to prepare for him to come back."

"We were thinking that might be the case actually, we all felt something was off with that hunter-nin." Sasuke said.

"Well good I'm glad to see you three are learning to pick up on these kinds of things." Kakashi eye smiled at his team.

"Inari!" Tazuna yelled "come down here"

Footsteps were heard and a small boy came down the stairs into the dining room. "What."

"Inari say hello to the wonderful ninja who protected your grandpa." Tsunami said.

"Sup kid. Don't worry we're gonna save your country no problem." Naruto said giving a reassuring grin and a thumbs up.

"Whatever." The boy muttered, "you're all gonna die anyway, nobody beats Gato."

Naruto shot up standing at the table. "Excuse me?" He almost growled. "What are you just giving up, scaredy-cat?"

"Your all gonna die anyway! Why do you even try there's no such thing as heroes!" The young boy shouted.

"Bullshit!" Naruto yelled, "I'm gonna save this place and show you you're wrong."

"You wouldn't understand! What could you ninja possibly know about this kind of suffering!" Inari yelled back crying.

Naruto began to leak killing intent, shaking slightly. He said, "wouldn't understand huh? Yeah fuck me, what would I know right? You know what! Fuck you kid! You're just a cry baby bitch who can't get over himself! I know more about suffering than almost anyone on this planet!"

Naruto walked to the door opened it and said, "I'm leaving. I'll be back later." the door closed softly behind him.

Inari burst into tears and ran up the stairs. The whole room was silent. "I apologize for my students behavior he's had an… extremely hard life."

"It's okay mister Hatake. He's needed to hear that for a while now. I just couldn't bring myself to be the one to say it." Tazuna reassured the legendary Konoha nin.

Sasuke stood, "I'm gonna go for a walk. Maybe do some training. I'll be back by tomorrow." With that Sasuke left the house.

* * *

Sasuke strolled through the forest in the direction Naruto had gone. Not that he was worried or anything, he was just going to see if the blond wanted to get beat up in a spar. Sasuke wandered around for quite a while and it was almost dusk when he felt the faint sense of his friends chakra. It was hard not to sense Naruto's chakra sometimes, the damn loser had so much of it. Sasuke made it to the edge of the small clearing and instantly drew a kunai and burst forward to the downed form of his friend. Putting himself in between Naruto and the person who had been standing over him. The Uchiha stared at the individual that stood only a few feet away from him.

"Who are you?" Sasuke said.

"Oh my name is Haku. I'm a local. I was out gathering herbs for my ill father. I heard a lot of noise this way and came to take a look. I watched him train for a while." The girl now identified as Haku said. In that moment Sasuke had the faint thought that this girl was absolutely gorgeous. Almost as beautiful as his own mother.

"Hn." The raven haired boy grunted. "Seems he knew you were here then."

"Oh he did?" Haku asked, curious.

"Yeah my stupid teammate is a sensor type. Fucker can feel out chakra like it's his own hand." Sasuke said slightly jealous. He sighed sitting down next to Naruto.

"Do you have someone precious to you?" Haku asked.

"Do I? n-..." he stopped self. Was he an avenger that wanted to be all alone and kill Itachi. Or was he a teammate, comrade, and friend to those around him. He quickly thought of Sakura, Kakashi, and Naruto. The only family he had now. "You know what. Yeah I do." He sighed, why was he telling this girl all of this.

"Good then you must be very strong." The girl replied.

"Why do you say that?" It was the conflicted avengers turn to be curious.

"Because… when you have precious people and precious bonds to protect… that is when you are truly strong." The girl smiled. "Strength comes from the bonds we form around us. Our precious people are the ones we fight so hard to protect. Sometimes they die, and we can't stop it, but that's what drives us to get even stronger so we can protect the ones we have left." Sasuke couldn't help but think not only was her voice and face so beautiful but her spirit was as well. He smiled back at her.

"You know you're probably right. Thank you miss Haku." Sasuke replied.

Haku stood. "I have to go now but you're welcome. I hope we meet again one day in the future. Oh and by the way, I'm a boy." The young woman said smiling.

For the first time in his entire life, Sasuke snorted. He laughed loudly. "Yeah, bullshit. I call your bluff woman."

"Ope, it seems you've caught me." The village girl smiled at him. "Goodbye, until we meet again Uchiha Sasuke."

It would only be a full week later that Sasuke would realize he had never given her his name.

* * *

"Fuck!" Naruto shouted. "I slept in again!" He growled lightly. He ran down the stairs and found Tsunami. "My team leave already?"

"Indeed they did Naruto, I'm sorry I should've woken you." She replied

"No no it's fine ma'am thank you." He said running to the door. "Later!" He called behind him. He was halfway to the bridge when he felt it, six small chakra signatures headed right for the house. Naruto quickly doubled back on his trail. Intent on stopping whatever was about to happen. He arrived just in time to watch a bandit kick the door in and drag Tsunami out of the building. He quickly flashed through hand seals creating five water clones to deal with the five bandits guarding the perimeter. As his clones snuck up, so did he. He was in kunai range now. He watched as Inari came running out of the house in full charge brandishing a knife.

"Heh, I'll kill you brat!"

"Don't hurt my mother!

"Inari! No!"

As a sword swing came down toward the boy a kunai impacted at the man's feet and then was gone. And somehow the man had a fist brandishing a kunai imbedded halfway in his chest underneath his ribs. Naruto twisted the small blade, and the man promptly died. All the while Naruto's five water clones simultaneously killed the other five men.

"Good job Inari." He said looking down at the boy and ruffling his hair with his none blood soaked hand. "That's how a true hero acts!"

"Thank you for saving us Naruto!"

"Thank you so much Mister Uzumaki!" Tsunami cried out.

"Heh no problem. But I gotta get going here, my teams waiting for me. You should barricade yourself in the house and wait." And with that the boy took off into the trees once again.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the bridge. Sasuke was getting his ass beat. And it was pissing him off. Like a lot. "_Damnit! Am I really this outclassed?" _The fake hunter-nin had encased the last Uchiha in a dome of ice mirrors, and was proceeding to rip him apart with sebon. The Uchiha really did think it might be over for him.

Suddenly a loud explosion ripped apart one of the mirrors courtesy of Naruto, who used the opportunity to catch the fake nin across the face with his foot. "Sasuke! Don't tell me you've been losing to this asshole!"

"Shut up you idiot! Now we're both stuck in here!" He said as the destroyed mirror reformed. "_Well at least I don't have to fight alone now." _The raven thought.

The fight proceeded and Sasuke found out that Naruto was after all, faster than he was. It bothered him slightly but at least they had a chance.

"Enough! It's time to end this!" Yelled the enemy shinobi. And suddenly there was a absolutely huge blanket of sebon coming straight for them. Sasuke knew he couldn't dodge. He was gonna die here.

Sasuke suddenly found himself thrown against the ground. With Naruto standing over him. Body covered in sebon. Looking at him with almost lifeless eyes. "S'ke, you gotta live." Naruto said through gritted teeth. And with that the unknown son of the Fourth Hokage, fell and died.

"Naruto! Hey! Idiot! Get up!" Sasuke crawled toward him. "Why loser! Why would you save me!? You're supposed to be Hokage one day!" Sasuke was racked with two emotions, guilt and anger. His eyes flashed red. A fully mature three tomoe Sharingan appearing in place of his black eyes.

"Was he precious to you?" The nin asked. "He obviously cared for you." The nin sighed. "Sorry it had to end this way."

"Shut up! I'm gonna kill you!" Sasuke was on the nin in seconds, eyes working double time and reading every move the nin made before he could make them. Sasuke slammed hit after hit into the nin. Kicking the nin into the air Sasuke did as he had seen Naruto do with the Demon Brothers. He slammed his fist into the fake hunter-nin's face, breaking _her _mask and sending her crashing to the ground face up. Sasuke came down kunai poised to cut open the nin's heart. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he stopped stone cold.

"H-Haku? What? What the fuck? What are you doing here?!" He screamed at the downed girl. "It was you! Why was it you who killed my friend!"

"I am a tool for Zabuza. As all shinobi are. In the same way you are all tools to your village and Hokage, I am a tool to Zabuza. I will serve him faithfully, for my dream is to see him achieve his dream." Haku grunted out.

"A tool!?" Sasuke yelled. "No we're people! The loser was to be Hokage one day!"

"You, Uchiha Sasuke, are at your strongest at this moment, as you are protecting someone precious to you." Haku sighed. "I am a broken tool, and am no longer able to protect my precious people. So please kill me Uchi-..."

A blast of chakra flew across the bridge, freezing everyone in place. They felt one emotion over all others, Fear. Fear at the overwhelming feeling of killing intent and hatred as Naruto's body seamingly rose from the dead.

* * *

_**Hmmm, so how's that for a spin? Trying to twist the plot of canon arcs to make them my own is difficult, and I'm sure it's been done before but, oh well. Anyway hope y'all enjoyed. Also as always, anyone interested in being a beta, please let me know. Anyways, see ya!**_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

_**Heyo! It's chapter six fuckers! Hope you're ready!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did Haku would have definitely been a girl.**_

* * *

"_Shit! Did the seal break!?" _The panicked thoughts rushed through Kakashi's mind.

"Hatake. What the fuck is that?" Zabuza asked as the two nin locked blades once again. The former mist jounin disengaged and lept back, sweeping his blade in front of him and catching Kakashi lightly across the chest.

At that moment a black and red mass shot across the bridge and took Zabuza off his feet. The man's back impacted one of the bridge's supports hard enough to cause cracks to spiderweb out from the point of impact. Zabuza coughed up blood. "_What the fuck just hit me?" _He thought. When he opened his eyes what he saw terrified him. When he took this mission he never would have thought he would face Konohagakure's Jinchuriki. He remembers what kind of terrors occurred during the battle with Yagura, and he was only the Jinchuriki of the three tails. And If this kid was Konohagakure's, then that could only mean one thing. "_It's the fucking Nine Tails. Shit…." _Zabuza half thought and half mumbled under his breath.

Naruto was pressing Kakashi hard. Well not really Naruto, but the demon in control of his body. He was barely dodging hits. "Naruto!" The copy nin yelled at his blond student. "You've got to reign yourself in! Fight it!"

"Kakashi-sensei! What's happening!" Sasuke yelled, his eyes were wide, Sharingan following Naruto's moves. What even was this power.

"Sasuke stay out of this! If you don't you'll die." The jounin replied desperation in his voice.

"Naruto! Kushina, your very mother was also the Jinchuriki of the Nine Tails! She could keep it under control, and I'm more than sure you can as well, Naruto!" The desperate jounin yelled at the red eyed Jinchuriki. But he finally slipped up. Kakashi lost his footing and knew this was the end, he could only hope the boy would regain control before killing his teammates.

Naruto's clawed hand stopped mere inches from the jounin's face. The nin's eyes widened as he saw the boy stop. "Naruto, you in there?" He said as calmly as possible.

The boy's eyes flashed blue for a split second. "**I'm here sensei, it's me I'm in control." **

"Naruto don't think about anything else, but as long as your like this let's use it, let's get Zabuza together. Alright?" The jounin instructed the boy.

"**Got it, sensei." **He grinned, "**what's the plan?"**

"The same combo you and Sasuke used. "Pour the chakra, Naruto!"

The two flashed through hand seals.

"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"

"**Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"**

The absolute hurricane of fire that burned across the bridge was enough to superheat the concrete as it traveled. Zabuza barely managed to get a counter out, "Water Style: Water Wall!" He yelled. The jutsu held out against the jounin and genin's combo for all of five seconds before it evaporated and blew the water away. But it was enough to keep the jutsu from instantly killing the missing nin. As his clothes burned he screamed and jumped off the bridge into the water, where he then resurfaced and ran up the side of a bridge support to confront the Konohagakure shinobi.

"Zabuza...it's time to end this." Kakashi stated. He slid through hand seals, the jounin's hand was engulfed in lightning, and he sped across the bridge hand extended toward the missing nin. "Chidori!" The sounds of his hand tearing and bursting through flesh echoed across the bridge. On his hand sat Haku.

"Heh, made for a useful tool after all!" The Demon of Kirigakure yelled bringing his sword back and fully intending upon cutting through Haku to kill Kakashi. But he hesitated. "_Can I really do this?" _He thought but brought his arm down anyway. A black and red blur impacted against the side of his sword taking it completely out of his hands. "What the fuck!"

"**Sensei! Finish it!" **Naruto shouted throwing the blade to the ground. Zabuza brandished a kunai, but immediately Kakashi was behind him and planted a kunai in the nin's left shoulder rendering it useless. The nin tossed his kunai to his other had, bringing it around to bare down on Kakashi. The leaf jounin adjusted his grip and changed his angle slamming his kunai into Zabuza's right armpit while simultaneously grabbing and snapping the former Kirigakure nin's forearm.

Zabuza growled and launched back but was met with a voice. "Wow you ninja really do have some cool fights!" A short fat man with a cane called out. "Too bad I have to cut it short!"

"Gato, what are you doing here?" Zabuza growled.

"I figured I'd wait for you all to wear eachother down and then come have my men finish all of you off! I never intended to pay you!" He kicked Haku's corpse. "This brat almost broke my hand, I'm glad she's dead!"

Zabuza said nothing, but it was someone unexpected who broke the silent tension. "How?! How can you stand there and let him do that to her! She loved you! She traded her life for yours and you'd just let him desecrate her memory?!" The Uchiha yelled with rage in his eyes.

"She's just another tool to me."

"Bullshit! You hesitated when you went to cleave through her to get to Kakashi! You'd sit here now and lie!" The Uchiha growled, "you son of a bitch how can you jus-.."

"Shut up kid…..you've said enough. You're right, Haku was everything to me. Gimme a kunai kid, ima kill this rat." The Uchiha held a questioning gaze at the former Kiri nin, then turned and looked at Kakashi, the jounin nodded. Hesitantly and cautiously, he approached. The ninja swordsman leaned down toward the boy and opened his mouth. The boy held out the handle and Zabuza took it in his teeth. "Thanks." He said and tore into the fray of mercenaries and bandits guarding Gato. Slipping into Gato's personal space, the redeemed nin slammed the kunai into his throat, tearing it out he proceeded to kill many more bandits before he fell.

As the bandits moved to hit the downed man, one shouted out, "we're gonna kill the rest of you damn ninja in a second!"

"Like hell!" A child's voice echoed across the bridge. "We're not gonna let you step on us anymore!" Inari stood with the whole village at his back. "Get out of here for good!"

Channeling a last little dosage of the Nine Tails chakra, Naruto stepped forward, "**If they don't make you leave, I will." **He forced all the killing intent he could toward the bandits, and they took off running for the trees. Naruto collapsed, but his faithful sensei caught him before he hit the ground.

"K-kakashi, will you do me a favor? I'd like to see Haku just one last time." Kakashi obliged the nin, and laid him next to the lifeless body of Haku. "Thank you."

As they watched the mist nin die crying. Snow began to fall on the bridge.

* * *

Team Seven sat in a bedroom in Tazuna's house, watching over Naruto's sleeping form. The room had been silent as they all stared at the boy. But Sasuke had to know. "Sensei, What was that power, that chakra that took control of Naruto?"

Kakashi stared at the black haired boy for a minute, as if trying to find an answer. "Well the truth is, it's an S-class secret. Only Naruto can reveal it at his discretion."

"You said something about Naruto's mother being a Jinchuriki like he is. What does that mean?" Sakura asked.

"Ah, so you heard that did you, well I still can't say. You'll have to wait for Naruto. And even then he doesn't have to tell you. It's hard for him to talk about, so try not to push too hard." The jounin replied.

"Might as well just tell them now though." Naruto said as he sat up surprising everyone in the room. "It's part of the reason I have so much chakra, and heal so quickly." He sighed at his team. Kakashi cast him a sympathetic look and Naruto continued. "I was born on October tenth. The same day and around the same time, as the Nine Tailed Fox attack. The Fourth Hokage couldn't actually kill it. So he sealed it into a newborn to hold the beast at bay. I am that child, I am the container of the Nine Tailed Fox."

Sasuke spoke first. "You… have the Nine Tailed Fox sealed inside of you?"

"That's what I said, yes."

"Naruto is what we call a Jinchuriki. A lot of bad things happened on the day he was born. I can't tell you any more than that." Kakashi interdicted.

"Why you?" Sakura finally spoke. "Why not any other child, why a newborn and why you?"

"I don't know." Naruto said with a downcast look. "For some reason, Lord Fourth Hokage chose to put his trust in me to hold this massive power. I just don't know if I can live up to his expectations."

"Pfft just because you've got a big fox in your gut doesn't mean you're any better than me, loser." Sasuke said. All eyes turned on him. Naruto's were comically wide. His face slowly turned to a grin and then the blond burst into laughter. Soon the whole team joined him.

As the laughing settled, Naruto spoke in a soft tone. "Thank you Sasuke." He sighed, "I was honestly very worried you guys would think I'm a monster."

Sakura wacked Naruto on the back of the head. "Of course we wouldn't think that, you idiot!" She sighed lightly, "at least now we know why the adults all said to stay away from you, and why they glare at you so much."

"Thank you Sakura." Naruto chuckled. "One day they won't see me like that. One day they will see me as Uzumaki Naruto! The Hokage! And then they will all respect me!"

* * *

Kakashi was sitting on a couch in Tazuna's house reading his book, when Naruto came through the doorway.

"Oh hey there Naruto. Need something?"

"Sensei I always thought your chakra was familiar, but now I'm almost certain. It's you right?"

"Naruto, what on earth are you talking about?"

"You're Inu aren't you sensei?"

The copy nin stood up, never taking his eyes off the boy. "I am indeed, but that's not something you can go running around talking about alrig-." He was cut off quickly as the young blond enveloped the former ANBU in a tight hug.

"Thank you."

Kakashi was visibly stunned. "Naruto? What are you thanking me for?"

"Watching over me. I was always so alone, but I always knew you were there. I could feel your chakra. Even though you never said a word to me other than if the Hokage summoned me, you were always there watching over me and keeping me safe. So thank you Sensei." Naruto responded while tightening his grip on the older man, tears burning in the corners of his eyes, but never falling.

Kakashi slowly and lightly wrapped his arms around his Sensei's son, he eye smiled down at the boy and quietly responded. "You're very welcome, Naruto."

* * *

Sasuke sat in front of the graves of Zabuza and Haku. He stared blankly for a while, finally eyes setting on Haku's grave. "You may have been my enemy, but I think you may have taught me the greatest lesson I've learned in my entire life. So thank you for that." He glanced over to Zabuza's grave next. "You were a cold bastard, but you really taught me a lot. I see the ninja world is not for the faint of heart. Sometimes you have to steel your resolve. Thank you for showing me the real darkness that comes with being a shinobi." With that said, he stood and heard footsteps behind him.

"Welp I really couldn't have said it any better ya know ya bastard." Naruto placed his hand on the Uchiha's shoulder. Sasuke had told him all about Haku, and everything Zabuza said and did. The blond was almost as inspired by it all as he was. "Kakashi-sensei is waiting for us, it's time to go S'ke."

"Right, it's time then." Sasuke said. The Jinchuriki began to walk away and before he left he took one last glance at the graves and made a pledge. "_I will never, ever abandon my comrades. And I will always protect those precious to me, this team is the only family I have now. I refuse to give that up." _And as the thought left his mind the raven sighed and walked away.

* * *

"Well looks like we'll be taking off now." The team leader said to the old bridge builder. "Konoha's probably beginning to worry."

"Ah yes, well we very much appreciate your help! None of this would be possible without you four. Please tell the Hokage we are ready and willing to start trade agreements with Konohagakure first and foremost."

"Ah yes, will do" the jounin said.

The people of wave country cheered and whistled at the team as them made their way across the bridge.

Tsunami looked at her father and asked, "what are we going to name the bridge?"

Inari immediately jumped in, "the Bridge of Team Seven of course!" The people of wave country cheered. It seemed the name would stick.

* * *

The door to the Hokage's office opened and in stepped the members of Team Seven.

"Team Seven reporting mission complete sir." Kakashi said.

"Kakashi….give me all the details. Right now. I believe you need to elaborate on the message you sent to me before you departed wave country."

"Right away sir." He said sighing. He proceeded to recount the epic that their mission in wave country had become.

"So you're telling me, you knowingly took three _genin _on what was suddenly an B-rank mission that later, after the appearance of Momochi Zabuza, would become an A-rank." The Hokage was visibly annoyed with the masked jounin.

Kakashi scratched his cheek, "uh well yeah… but when you put it that way…"

"On top of that you let Naruto get pushed to the point the Nine Tails was able to gain control of his body. And then to defuse said situation you divulged another S-class secret to the boy!" The Hokage pulled out his pipe, lit it, and took a pull, exhaling the smoke before sighing. "If this was anyone else other than you and this team, you would be demoted and the genin would be put on probation from any missions above D-rank. However! Because Team Seven is our strongest and most well known and popular genin team, I will let this pass. I expect to never hear of a situation like this again, are we clear Kakashi?"

"Yes Lord Hokage, crystal."

"Good. You and your team are dismissed, but Naruto please stay behind." The other three left and the blond sat down in front of the Hokage.

"What can I do for you Lord Third?" The boy asked.

"Did you speak to it?"

"The Nine Tails? No. When Kakashi-sensei mentioned mother, I was able to regain control of myself and managed to use my power boost to help Kakashi-sensei push Zabuza."

"Good. When Jiraiya arrives I'll have him take a look at your seal."

"Lord Jiraiya? Of The Sannin?" Naruto questioned.

"Indeed. You know I trained all three of them"

"Of course I know." Naruto laughed. "They beat it into our heads at the academy"

The old Hokage chuckled in response and silence filled the room. "Naruto… you and your team are going to be entered into this years chunin exams. We can't afford to not show your team off. Let alone not show off you and young Sasuke. The two of you are our most skilled genin, so feel free to show off. Understood, Naruto?"

"Yes Lord Hokage." The boy smiled at the elder.

"Naruto…"

"Yes sir?"

"Never mind it's nothing. You may go."

"See you later, Old Man Hokage." With that the boy stood and left the office. Alone with his thoughts Hiruzen sighed. "_It may be too early to tell him of his father, even if he makes chunin….I suppose I shall let Jiraiya take him soon, and leave that decision to him. He is the boy's godfather after all." _The elderly Sarutobi sighed once more. He really was getting much too old for this.

* * *

"Alright listen up!" Kakashi called to his students. "We have until the end of this month to get you three into top shape to enter the chunin exams. You don't have to pass, nor get the promotion. However you must give it your all. You guys are Konohagakure's strongest genin team at this point, and if you aren't yet you will be before the exams. So let's get started."

"The chunin exams, already?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, Lord Hokage believes you are ready, as do I." The jounin eye smiled at them. "Ready to get started then?"

The three responded together, "let's do this!"

Over the course of next two weeks the jounin hammered tactical thinking, small unit tactics, first aid knowledge, and just about anything he could get them to learn that might help. He began to train Naruto in the use of the Fourth Hokage's hummingbird fist. This was a taijutsu style not only made for use of extreme natural speed, which at this point Naruto had in spades for a genin, but also for use in conjunction with the Flying Raijin Jutsu when Minato had developed it.

Of course Naruto did not have this jutsu, but Kakashi saw it fitting considering the boys kunai substitution techniques. It had been quite easy to teach to the boy, as Naruto already made use of handstands and fast reflexes during taijutsu bouts. The Fourth had made extreme use of his teleportation, body flicker, and just plain natural speed to appear inside his enemies guard. Once there he had often made use of handstands to get a full range of movement for precision kicks.

"_I reckon he could give Gai's student a run for his money." _Was something Kakashi thought quite a bit while training the boy. The masked jounin also went on to teach the boy a couple new jutsu. Including  
Water Style: Liquid Bullets, the user spitting balls of water from the mouth at high speed. Another had been Water Style: Water Pistol, which in turn lead to Naruto also learning the Twin Water Pistol jutsu. And finally he taught the boy Wind Style: Gale Palm. With the boy readily armed and dangerous, Kakashi was sure he'd be a absolute force of nature throughout the exams.

As for his Uchiha student, he supplemented the boy's jutsu arsenal with two new Fire style jutsu. Which he had picked up quickly due to his now activated and fully mature Sharingan. Most of their time together however was spent on Sharingan Genjutsu which would be incredibly important to Sasuke not only for the exams, but for his entire shinobi career.

As for the girl, after making her undergo hard training to increase her chakra reserves, he felt she would be capable of learning new techniques. Among those were a few genjutsu, along with new Earth Style jutsus. He refined her taijutsu and medical jutsu knowledge. They also made strides in increasing her physical strength. Both of the males on his team were terrified of her when she was angry, not that they would admit it.

The three genin were a force to be reckoned with, Kakashi was honestly going to be surprised if they didn't wipe the floor with a good chunk of the competition. All that was left to do was wait and see.

* * *

"Boss! Boss!" A small boy with a blue scarf yelled chasing after the blond. Naruto could still remember meeting the arrogant idiot in the Hokage's office. But since then Naruto had taken to looking after the boy, sometimes even teaching him some things. The six year old had just joined the academy, and would turn eight two months after Naruto turns fourteen this year.

Sakura was also walking with Naruto at the time. "What is it Kono?" The blond boy asked.

"Boss, is she your girlfriend?" Sakura looked stunned, and Naruto turned to the boy and smiled. "No she's just my teammate Kono."

"Ah that's good because she's kinda flat." Konohamaru said blankly.

Sakura's face turned to rage, had Kakashi been there he would have been reminded of Kushina herself. Naruto looked at the boy with fear in his eyes. "Kono… run!" The boy saw his mentors face and was terrified. He took off running for the hills. Sakura took off after him.

"Get back here you little shit!" Her time spent exposed to Naruto and Sasuke's foul language had made her pick up a few habits of theirs. The boy ran down an alley at top speed taking a shortcut to a side street before running into someone.

"Ow." The boy said falling on his bottom.

"You little shit… you're gonna learn your lesson right now." A male voice rang out over him.

"Kankuro, quit you're gonna get us in trouble." A female voice called out. The chunin exams were going to start soon. And Team Seven was about to meet their greatest adversary.

* * *

_**Oh boy! Wave arc over, and the team returns! The team gets some blustered training, and we enter the chunin exams! I changed the age of Konohamaru and his friends. Plot reasons you will find out about much later in the story. There's gonna be a lot of time line play, so bear with it! Haha, anyways y'all have a good day! Darling in the Fox out! **_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

_**Yo! It's time for the seventh chapter my bros! The chunin exams take off in full swing!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did random Konoha nin would be prevalent. **_

* * *

"Konohamaru! Are you alright!?" Naruto yelled running to get around the corner before Sakura could really hurt the boy. As he turned it though he saw something he hadn't expected. What greeted him was Sakura standing stunned in the street. And a older boy who held Konohamaru up by the collar of his shirt. Naruto was not happy to see that. "Hey! What the fuck are you doing?"

The older boy scoffed, "this brat ran into me and I'm gonna teach him a lesson."

"Put him down. Now." Naruto commanded.

"What are you gonna do if I don't?" The guy said arrogantly.

Only then did Naruto by pure natural speed appear inside the man's guard, holding his kunai to the man's throat. "I'm not going to ask again."

"_I didn't even see him move!" _The older boy thought dropping the kid. Naruto disappeared and reappeared next to Sakura holding Konohamaru, who he then set down.

"Kono...run along. I'll catch up with you later." Naruto said in a no nonsense voice.

"Yes sir, big brother Naruto!" With that the youngster ran off as fast as he could.

"You two, you're here for the chunin exams right?" The blond asked.

"We are. But I'm gonna kick your ass right here for that stunt you just pulled!" The teenager reached for the bandaged item on his back. When suddenly a rock hit him in the head, thrown from behind him. When he turned to look, his eyes were met with the blood red Sharingan of Konohagakure's last Uchiha.

"A, you couldn't touch Naruto if you tried. And B, random fighting inside the village is prohibited, _especially_ right now." The black haired boy said.

"Hey! You! Don't be trying to sneak up behind Sasuke like that!" Naruto yelled pointing behind the boy in the tree. With that a figure walked out, most notable feature being the kanji for love etched into his forehead.

"Kankuro. You're a disgrace to the village." The figure said.

"Well you see Gaara it's like thi-..."

"Shut up or I'll kill you." The redhead cut him off.

"You're all shinobi from Sunagakure, correct?" Naruto asked. "Here for the exams?"

"Yes we are." The girl answered. "Are you taking them as well?"

"Indeed." Naruto said, his eyes then narrowing as he looked at Gaara. "You, what's your name?"

"They call me Gaara of the Desert. What's your's?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"I hope we get to fight, you too Uchiha." And with that the three sand shinobi left.

"Guys." Naruto shook his head. "If you face him at all, especially without help, run immediately. You'll die if you don't."

"What do you mean run, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"I could feel his chakra the whole time. He's just like me. And since he's from Sunagakure, I'd say he's the Jinchuriki of the One Tails."

"Another Jinchuriki?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, it's likely I'll end up facing him. Either me or Sasuke, maybe even you Sakura. I'd rather both of you forfeit immediately if facing him, but I can't force you. Just make sure you're content with dying." The blond sighed.

"Kami Naruto, is it that bad?" Sasuke asked.

"S'ke you know I'd never tell you to back down from a fight, so yeah it's that bad. As your friend and teammate I'm begging you to not fight him if at all possible." Naruto was staring at the ground as they walked now.

"Alright it's settled. If I can absolutely avoid it I won't fight him." Replied the Uchiha.

"Agreed." The pinkette confirmed her adherence to the request.

"Thank you."

* * *

A light breeze blew outside the front door to the academy. The three chunin hopefuls stepped inside and made there way up the stairs. They all tapped each other on the arm at the detection of the genjutsu set a upon the door to room 201, that made it read 301. They silently walked by and continued up the stairs. As they prepared to enter the doorway, Naruto and Sasuke made a decision. Sakura turned the handle slightly and stepped back, and Naruto booted the door open hard enough for it to bounce as it impacted the wall on which it was mounted. He then channeled the slightest bit of the fox's chakra, and he and Sasuke absolutely decimated the room with killing intent. And the whole time they were grinning like idiots.

**Flashback**

"_Hey duck butt?"_

"_What do you want loser?"_

"_I think we should make an entrance that says don't fuck with us."_

"_What do you mean Uzumaki?" The raven haired boy asked._

"_I mean let's use our killing intent to scare the fuck out of as many of these teams as we can, I'll channel a bit of the fox's."_

"_Hmmm… If Sakura's okay with it then yeah."_

"_This'll be awesome y'know!" The Uzumaki cheered. _

"_Hn."_

**Flashback end**

The entire room full of teams began to try to focus their combined killing intent on Team Seven, just as it began to overpower the murderous feeling Sasuke and Naruto gave off, Naruto made a power move and channeled even more of the Nine Tails' chakra. This completely overpowered everything the other teams had, and they all turned away from the glares of Team Seven muttering amongst themselves about dangerous Konoha nin.

"You two really are unbelievable you know that right?" Sakura asked bored, she had long since gotten used to Naruto and Sasuke using this combination of killing intent since they had experienced Zabuza's in wave country.

Some of the foreign nin were completely stunned by how she was seemingly unaffected. Painting her as not being a weak point for the team.

"Heh...uh hey guys, hope that's not gonna turn on us?" Kiba said approaching from the corner, where it seemed all the teams from there graduating class were situated.

"We're saving it for the real competition, Mutt." Sasuke replied.

"What'd you call me Uchiha!?"

"You heard me."

Sakura interjected, "Sasuke quit, it's annoying."

At that the rookie nine were all visibly stunned. She looked at them blankly, "what?"

"Uh nothing sorry." Kiba replied.

"Impressive display. But that's going to attract a lot of attention, and the rest of you are being very loud." A new Konohagakure genin said walking up to the group. He had come from a separate group of Konoha hopefuls across the room.

"Yeah well at least most know not to fuck with us," said Sasuke rounding on the new comer. "And who exactly are you?"

"Im Kabuto, I've taken this exam a couple of times. Figured I could give advice to you all."

"A couple of times?" Kiba asked. "Doesn't that mean you suck considering you haven't passed?" While this was going on, Sasuke was now struggling with Naruto's help to get Ino to let him go after she had jumped on him. Finally separating them it was Naruto's turn to put forward a question.

"Got any info on any of the genin here?

"Yeah I do, I've got it all here on my ninja info cards. Who do you want to know about?"

"Gaara of the Desert." Naruto said.

Kiba jumped in suddenly, "Uzumaki Naruto, And Uchiha Sasuke."

Kabuto laughed. "You make it too easy knowing their names, Gaara of the Desert. Zero D-ranks, thirty C-ranks, fourteen B-ranks, and five A-ranks. Wow that's unheard of for a genin. Oh! And it says he's never gotten a single scratch on a mission. He also has control over sand for offense and defense."

"Uzumaki Naruto. Five hundred and forty six D-ranks! They haven't even been genin for a year! Even being D-ranks that's still impressive. Two C-rank missions, one B-Rank and one A-rank. Multiple high level jutsu and unusually high speed." Kabuto laughed, "Wow not bad for such a short career history."

"Thanks." Naruto said deep in thought, no one should know about the B-rank, that was supposed to be a secret.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Same mission history as Naruto seeing as they share a team, but Sasuke has no B-Rank, meaning Naruto did one alone? Sasuke has quite a few Fire style jutsu under his belt and is no pushover in taijutsu either. Both he and Naruto shared the title of rookie of the year." The glasses wearing boy stood. "Well that's all I got."

"Anything on the other villages here?" Asked Sakura.

"Well out of the big five only Sunagakure is participating, other wise there's a team from Takigakure, along with Kusagakure, and Amegakure. Otogakure is also here but their a relatively new village, and not much is known about them." Kabuto explained to the group.

Upon hearing this a group from Oto approached. "Hey! I'll show you the power of Otogakure right now, we'll be one of the strongest villages soon!" A bandage covered genin yelled. He charged at Kabuto, and just as he was making to swing his gauntlet covered arm at the Konoha nin, Naruto appeared in between them. Landing in a handstand he planted his foot in the Oto nins chest, pushing off he grabbed Kabuto with his other arm and disappeared. Reappearing across the room, the blond spoke.

"Maybe you'll be stronger soon, but you're still a minor village, might be a bad idea to go pissing off the big five right away. Wouldn't wanna get squashed before having a chance to grow." His grin never left his lips, Kakashi's training to increase his speed to unnatural proportions was one of the best terrible things he ever put himself through.

The Oto nin looked positively livid, but a commanding voice broke through the air. "Any fighting in this room from here on out is prohibited, and punishable by disqualification!" A man with a scared face wearing a black trench coat said, having just appeared in the room. Alongside him was a set of chunin. "I'm Ibiki Morino, I will be your proctor for the first test." He growled, "the first exam is a written one. Anyone caught cheating more than six times will fail alongside their team, your test scores will be collective so if one of your teammates fails your still out. This will be a two hour test. After the time limit a tenth and final question will be given. Now take your damn seats and get ready!"

The genin that filled the room began taking seats and tests were handed out by chunin once the examines were seated. "Alright the test begins now!" The scared man called out.

Naruto looked at his test. They were extremely advanced questions, most genin wouldn't know the answers to any of them, he was glad for Iruka's insistence on him learning more advanced math and physics problems. He knew Sakura would be smart enough to answer all the questions, but what of him and Sasuke? "_I see! They want us to cheat, they're testing out ability to gather information without getting caught." _The Uzumaki caught on quick. He now knew Sasuke would use his Sharingan, but what of himself? He got a crazy idea, he wasn't sure if it would work but he figured he'd give it a shot.

The boy proceeded to "accidentally" knock over his water. Quickly picking up the bottle and trying to look flustered, he began to focus on putting his chakra into the water now on the desk, it slowly evaporated, condensation building on the ceiling above the boy. He manipulated his chakra in the water to get the condensation to turn to a big droplet that then flattened, and turned into an almost perfect mirror surface. From there he kicked his feet up on the desk, leaning back in his chair with his hands on his head. He watched others fill out their tests from the mirror, and once he had all the answers stuffed into his mind he began to fill out his own.

The chunin began striking out team after team until the time was up. All that were remaining was the rookie nine, Kakashi-sensei's self proclaimed rival's team, and four more Konoha teams, including Kabuto's. Along with that were the two Otogakure teams, two Sunagakure teams, two Amegakure teams, and a three Kusagakure teams.

"Alright! Times up!" The big man yelled. "Now! You must decide if you want to take the Tenth question, if you don't you will fail the test."

"What? Then of course we'd take the question!" The Suna girl yelled.

He glared at her for interrupting him. "However if you take the Tenth question, and get it wrong, you will never be allowed to take the chunin exams again!"

"What?!" Kiba yelled, "but there's people here who have taken the exams before!"

"I guess you're just unlucky to have me as your proctor. If you choose to not take the question, you will fail but you will have the chance to take the test again next year." The man explained. "Now if you're not gonna take it get out!"

A Suna team, and a Kusa team both got up and left, and some of the other teams seemed to have their resolve wavering. However when Naruto saw some of the Rookie Nine wavering he figured it best to take a precautionary measure. Slamming his hand onto the table he stood. "Oi! I can be genin and never make jounin! But I'll still become Hokage one day! I'll surpass the Fourth and all the other Hokage!"

"Tough talk." Ibiki said, looking around the room he noticed that the boy's words had steeled the resolve of all the genin left. "Is that your final answer?" No team moved an inch. "Alright then, you pass."

"What!?" Came the scattered yells of many of the genin.

"The goal of the tenth question is to see if you have the guts to be a chunin. The ability to be courageous and survive any hardship… These are the abilities needed to become a chūnin captain. Those who can't put their destinies on the line… who cling to the uncertain future of "there's always next year"… and walk away from their chance… those pieces of trash who can only make such cowardly choices do not deserve to become chūnin! He removed his bandanna, showing his head full of scars. Some genin audibly gasped. "So-.."

A window bust open, and kunai with a large banner attached impacted the wall interrupting the scared man. The banner read _the sexy and single Mitarashi Anko. _"Ibiki!" The girl who had stolen the show yelled. "You let this many pass?!"

"Anko….you're early."

"No matter! I'll cut that number in half." She licked her lips and a few genin gulped. "Alright shit stains, meet me at training ground forty four in an hour."

* * *

"Prepare to start!" A chunin yelled as the genin stood at the gates. "Go!" The gates were opened and the test was on. Team Seven was in need of an Earth scroll. They entered the forest quickly, and got as far inside as possible before stopping. Naruto quickly made fifteen water clones who set up a perimeter. Sasuke and Sakura began overwatch, and Naruto crouched down and placed his finger to the ground. Kakashi having seen Naruto's sensor ability being seemingly in tune with his fathers, worked to have Naruto refine and perfect this skill. He could now sense chakra over a range of a mile, just by placing his finger to the ground.

"Okay an Ame team is actually trying to sneak up on us right now, they're due east. Let's do it quick." Naruto said taking off with Sakura and Sasuke in tow.

"Right." They said. As much as Sasuke hated to admit it Naruto made a good team leader. His strategies were almost unmatched as well. They quickly found the Ame team and before anyone could blink, Sasuke and Sakura had them all under a genjutsu, and Naruto sent his water clones in to dispatch the enemy as to be prepared for any traps. Finding none and knocking out the team, Naruto's clones waved the all clear signal. Jumping down they found the team did indeed possess an Earth scroll.

"Let's knock out a few more teams on the way to the tower?" Sasuke suggested.

"It couldn't hurt. Might lessen the competition for later." Naruto replied

"I don't know about you two but I'd like to set a record time." Sakura said. At that moment a gust of wind more powerful than anything Naruto had experienced in his life ripped through the trees, uprooting them as it went and blasting the team apart. Naruto had no idea what hit them.

* * *

Sasuke awoke. He heard screaming. It was a girl, "_Sakura?" _He thought with worry. "_No that's not her.." _ it was coming from off to his right.

"Help me!" Came the screams.

Sasuke ran over and found a giant bear moving to make a mid day meal out of the redhead on the ground. Said bear was quickly fried by a fire jutsu and Sasuke called out, "go fine an examiner! Sorry I gotta go, my team needs me!" With that he was gone.

* * *

Sakura awoke, and she was mad, whatever had hit them really spoiled her mood. She was by no means happy. She heard a commotion through the trees, she then neared the source of the sound. Upon peaking through the dense foliage cover she saw the Suna team Naruto had been so worried about. And now she saw why. She watched as the guy with the gourd wrapped sand around the Ame team confronting him. And she watched as he turned their bodies to paste. She immediately bailed and when off in the direction her and her teammates had last been together.

* * *

Naruto woke up, something hurt, a lot. He heard a noise but it was unusual. "_Sounds like a medical jutsu?"_ He thought groggily. His eyes fluttered open, only to see a pair of soft green eyes staring back at him.

"Shh stay down your arm is broken. I'm a Konoha nin too it's alright." The girl said. She had shoulder length black hair that graduated to dark red at the tips.

"What happened?" Naruto asked.

"We heard a huge crash from in front of us. When we came to investigate we found you here." A boy behind the girl said. Actually there were two boys. They were identical.

"Shit I'm seeing double." Naruto muttered.

The girl giggled. "No silly, there's two of them, identical twins."

"Hey that's pretty cool y'know!" Naruto said slightly excited, but clapped his hands over his mouth at letting the verbal tic out in front of these new people. The girl giggled again.

Looking at him she smiled. "Arms all good now!"

He stood slowly and punched his hand into his fist. "Alright! Thanks for the help, but I gotta go find my team!"

"Do you want help?" One boy asked.

"Nah, you guys have an exam to pass." He smiled, "I never did get your names?"

"Kasahara Roku" one of the boys said.

"Kasahara Aiko" the second followed up.

"I'm Takarada Ryuko, it's a please to meet you mister…?" The girl finished for the group.

"Uzumaki Naruto! You're future Hokage at your service." He said bowing dramatically, causing the girl to giggle again. "Well anyway I gotta go." And then he disappeared. Leaving the team baffled.

* * *

_**Welp that's a wrap! Hope your ready to find out where that blast of wind came from. ;) Anyways, that's all for now folks! Darling in the Fox out!**_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight.**

_**Heyo! It's chapter Eight dudes! Enjoy!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, Konoha teamwork would mean more combination jutsus.**_

_**Alrighty so, I saw some reviews where it looks like some people are slightly confused on the whole nerf I have going for the kunai substitutions. It's not chakra exhaustion, it's literal damage Naruto takes to his chakra coils. When he substitutes with a kunai he has to exert a lot more chakra, but a ton of it is left hanging in the air around him, that chakra then comes slamming back into his body, and royally fucks up his chakra coils. Hope that cleared something up for you.**_

* * *

Naruto was flying through the forest of death. He didn't know what was going on, but he could sense Sasuke and Sakura's chakra. It was spiking so high he knew his best friend was being pushed, _hard. _When he saw the giant snake with a Kusa nin atop its head moving to devour Sasuke and Sakura, he knew he had to do something. He forced its chakra into his coils and took the fox's power. "_Someday I'm gonna be strong enough to protect my friends without you, Nine Tails." _He thought.

The snake barreled at the two genin who were paralyzed in fear. And it slammed into something before hitting the branch they stood on. Naruto stood in front of them holding the snake with his arms and back, bracing himself with his legs against the branch while facing them. When he looked up at them, they could clearly see the he was using the Nine Tails' chakra.

"**S'ke, you're better than this." **The boy said to him.

"N-naruto?" The Uchiha asked in shock.

"**Combo five. Now Sasuke!"**

The raven finally came back to his senses, "right!" He yelled and began weaving through hand signs. Naruto kicked off the snake and spun in mid air as Sasuke and Sakura both kicked off the branch as well. Once close enough together they fired their jutsu at the enemy nin and it's summon.

"**Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"**

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!

The combo tore apart everything in its path as it rushed the Kusa nin. Consuming the nin in a ball of fire the boys let out a sigh of relief, only to be met with an evil chuckle. "Kukukuk, now that was quite impressive for some genin. However you're much to dangerous with that Fox...Naruto. Let me fix that." The nin was in front of him in seconds, and the enemy slammed its palm into the Jinchuriki's stomach. "Five Elements Seal!"

Naruto collapsed almost instantly, Sakura caught the boy and landed on the ground along with Sasuke. "Just who the hell are you!?" She yelled.

"Kukuku, I've a lot of names, but you'd probably recognize me best as Orochimaru, of the Sannin."

Sasuke's eyes widened, fear burning into them. "What do you want!?"

"I simply came to give you a gift Sasuke boy." The traitorous Sannin said. His neck stretched across the space between them in seconds and bit Sasuke on the shoulder. He screamed out in pain, clutching his new wound as he collapsed. "I look forward to seeing you again...kukuku" and the Sannin was gone.

* * *

Sakura dragged both boys to a nearby tree with a hollowed out underside. She laid them out to where they would be comfortable. Sasuke had a massive fever. And Naruto was out cold from whatever the Sannin had done. She set up a lot of traps and began using her medical jutsu and medical kits to help the boys' healing along as best she could.

A loud crack brought her attention to the field she had stuffed with her traps. When she saw three Oto nin jump down, she wasted no time.

"Oi! Konoha nin I'm looki-..." the loud and brash genin was cut off by a massive explosion that ripped apart the tree line all around the clearing. Sakura stood kunai in hand, at the entrance to the hollowed out tree.

"Look. I'll give you the chance to turn and go. But I won't let you touch these two. And so help me if we're fighting and they wake up, well they tend to be protective of me." Sakura glared at the three Oto nin.

"Ah fuck me Dosu, this little bitch thinks she can stop us!" The brash one laughed.

Sakura launched through seals and smacked her hand to the ground. "Earth Style: Earthquake Slam!" She called out, and the ground surrounding the enemy began to spiral inwards on itself attempting to bury the nin alive. The Oto nin barely managed to dodge in time.

"Goddamnit this bitch!" The brash one yelled.

The bandaged one, now identified as Dosu, then spoke in a commanding tone. "Zaku calm down. She's obviously well prepared." He sighed. "Kin, can you get her?"

The female of the group shook her head in negative. "Not at this range." The Oto nin stood, analyzing their options. What surprised them was when the pinkette charged out of her little bunker and jumped into the air. As she slammed her fist down into the tree where Dosu had just been standing, the entire thing blew away as if hit with a paper bomb.

**Flashback **

"_Kakashi-sensei, we've been upping my physical strength, but I was wondering how did Lady Tsunade get so strong?"_

"_Well that's actually a technique she uses, but I'm not sure how it works."_

"_Do you think maybe we could come up with our own version? We both know I'm good at punching things." _

_Kakashi eye smiled at the pinkette, "that's the spirit, I'd say we probably could pull it off." Over the next two weeks training for the exams they had come up with a bastardized, chakra wasting, cheap imitation of Tsunade's super strength. But it hit. __**Hard. **__And that was what mattered most._

**Flashback end **

Zaku sputtered as they jumped back. "What the fuck!"

Sakura simply grinned at the team. She was either going to rip them apart or if they could prove strong, she could keep them held until the boys woke up. And thus began a game of cat and mouse between Sakura and their team. She wouldn't let them split up, she kept them away from her teammates, and she didn't let them lure her out of her field were she had traps hidden everywhere.

They were only two hours into the exam, and already their team had ran into the biggest amount of trouble. "_We seem to have a knack for that."_ Sakura mused. Her next hit broke every bone in the female Oto nin's body and left her a jumbled broken mess on the forest floor. And the games continued.

* * *

Forty minutes later, and Sakura was tired. She couldn't keep this cat and mouse shit up for long. She was quite surprised when Zaku finally managed to slip into her guard and blast her away with his jutsu. She flew back, expecting to impact the tree only to be caught. She looked to see by who, and saw the familiar black hair of her Uchiha teammate. He set her down slowly and lightly.

"Sakura, who did this to you?" Black markings trailed up his face from his shoulder.

"I finally hit the dumb bitch Dosu!" Zaku yelled landing in the middle of the clearing.

Sasuke locked eyes with the boy. "We've been sent to kill you, Uchiha Sasuke!" Dosu then called out.

"Hn." The boy grunted, "funny because you're the one about to die." Sasuke was on Zaku in seconds beating him before tossing him to the ground. "You really seem to like these arms a lot, maybe I'll take them from you." Sasuke said, planting his foot in the back of the enemy genin. He began to pull, and the arms popped out of their sockets with a sickening crack. The boy below him screamed in pain. Sasuke began to draw a kunai, when a voice stopped him cold.

"Sasuke. Enough." Naruto stood at the entrance to the tree. "Let's go, we're wasting time. Leave em."

"Hn." The Sharingan wielder grunted. "Fine, but only because Sakura wants to set a record." And with that Team Seven left the broken and battered Oto team alone.

* * *

Three hours to complete. A feat in its own but it was blown away by the Suna team's ninety one minutes. But then again Squad Seven had encountered _the_ Orochimaru of the Sannin. The Hokage secretly met with them, and debriefed the team on what had happened. After which Kakashi took Sasuke away to seal his new curse mark. Naruto told Hiruzen of the traitorous Sannin's seal, the one that had blocked the Nine Tails chakra, and in turn the Hokage saw he could remove it. However until his chakra had time to rest itself per say, it royally screwed his chakra control, but he found he could still do his kunai substitution, so although jutsu was mostly out of the picture, he still had his natural speed and his favorite technique. The Hokage guessed it would be about a day or two before Naruto's chakra control would be able to be normal.

By the time all the teams that had passed were in the tower and ready to go, the proctors knew they would need to hold preliminary matches. Team Seven had been warned of the preliminary matches before hand, the Hokage felt if any team had the right to know, it was them. After what they went through in the forest they needed to be prepared for the preliminaries.

Standing on the main platform, in front of all the gathered genin, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage began to address the young nin. "Some of you may have wondered...what are you here for, why you came all this way and risked your lives for a promotion. The truth is, the chunin exams are a substitute for war. Used by the village to test their might against the might of another. You fight and die for your village."

Some of the genin started to protest and ask questions but a coughing man stepped up, "Lord Third Hokage, mind if I take it from here?"

"Of course Hayate."

The man stepped up coughing a few times before speaking. "I am Gekko Hayate." He coughed a few more times before continuing. "I will be your proctor for the preliminary matches." He bust out coughing once again. "There's too many of you for finals so this has to be done." He coughed some more, and he ignored the protests of many genin. "I don't care what you have to say. The matches will be randomly selected." A screen popped out of the wall behind him. "And the winner will go to the finals. The matches start now. Anyone who feels they are unable to fight may drop out now."

The last Kusagakure team that made it dropped out as a whole. Kabuto dropped out but his teammates stayed. The girl Naruto had met in the forest Takarada Ryuko quit as well, giving Naruto a wave as she left, which he returned. Kasahara Roku, and Kasahara Aiko, the twins, also quit and they looked like they needed to, they were quite beat up.

On the screen two names appeared. Temari against Tenten. Naruto cringed watching the bun haired girl slam back first into the sand girls fan. Lee tried to go avenge her but his sensei stopped him. Dosu against Choji came next, and although Choji did well he still lost to the Oto nin. Yoroi, Kabuto's teammate took on Shino. This match bored Naruto to death. It was who could drain the others chakra faster. And Shino quickly showed his prowess in his insect techniques.

Naruto watched as Lee stunned the crowd. But was forced to continue watching when Lee had his fighting capability literally crushed. If it hadn't been for the interference of Gai, the bowl cut boy would be dead. He got to cheer though, when he and Sasuke watched their pink haired teammate absolutely body her longtime rival. Sakura ended the match with two moves. First she buried Ino in the ground using, Earth Style: headhunter jutsu. And then she held a kunai to the Yamanaka's throat. Many of the jounin sensei were stunned by the lack of skill the blonde girl possessed, and Asuma had to shrink back in shame.

The Kankuro guy from Suna turned out to be a puppet user who made quick work of Kabuto's other teammate.

They got some interesting action from another team that had graduated the same time as Naruto's group. Konohagakure's Team Two, one of its members went against Shikamaru. The boy, named Luca Kenji had spiky, dirty blond hair with red streaks in it. He was dressed in a dark sweater, with dark red pants, and happened to be a swordsman. He was skilled but arrogant and fell to Shikamaru's strategy quickly.

The other two, Hinazuki Rikka, and Agus Mikazuki were pitted against each other. The girl, dressed in darker clothes, having blue hair and red eyes. Seemed to have high chakra reserves considering the amount of Fire Style jutsu she tossed around. Her name sounded extremely familiar to Naruto, but he couldn't place it. The boy, Mikazuki, wore a green coat that was at least two sizes too big for him. He had on dark tan pants and combat boots. He stuck almost exclusively to one of Naruto's favorite jutsu, the Water Pistol, and Twin Water Pistol jutsu. In the end though, The bluenette overpowered him.

Naruto then watched as Neji came as close as he could to killing Hinata. Naruto swore to the Hyuga prodigy, that if they fought he was going to destroy him. At that moment Naruto then realized there were only four genin left to fight. The board shuffled names once again and Naruto smiled.

"Uzumaki Naruto versus, Abumi Zaku," the latter having made it to the tower with Dosu and Kin, the girl having been alive but too injured to continue, Zaku however was able to have his arms fixed. Naruto planned to absolutely body this guy. And avoid revealing too many skills.

The Oto genin laughed loudly. "I'm looking for some payback now buddy!"

Naruto leapt down to the fighting area. "Shut up. I don't care." He said bored as ever. When a few jounin glanced at Kakashi, he just eye smiled.

"Begin!"

Naruto kicked off by slinging kunai at the other boy. Who by dodging and deflecting, avoided injury. He struck out at Naruto, aiming for a taijutsu bout. That immediately backfired as Naruto practically appeared behind him and put a spin kick into the other males torso, sending Zaku flying. The Oto boy landed on his feet though. He then snarled at the blond. "So that's how it's gonna be huh!? Fine!" He stuck both arms out in front of him, "Decapitating Airwaves!" He yelled. As the waves of sound and air flew across the arena, Naruto stood blankly in its path. Only for the waves to affect nothing but a lone kunai on the ground.

"Lightning barrage!" Yelled the voice of the blond behind him, who instantly kicked the Oto nin into the air before throwing a kunai up at him. In a moment that made many of Konoha's jounin go wide eyed, Naruto disappeared and reappeared where his kunai had been. Performing a flip kick Naruto sent the boy back to the ground, but appeared once again on the floor, where a different kunai had been seconds before. "_Only have five more chances for substitution, before this shit starts to hurt." _Naruto grunted in his mind, that seal had really messed up his control, so the chakra hitting his coils hurt like hell. As the Oto genin came down back first, Naruto launched into a spin kick that sent the other boy to the wall. He impacted with an echoing crack. Naruto smiled.

Zaku stood slowly. Pain raking his body. "What...the hell…..was that?"

Meanwhile, Kurenai whispered to the boy's sensei. "Kakashi….that wasn't what it seemed like it was….right?"

"Ah now it wouldn't be fair to sell away one of my cute students best tricks before a tournament now would it?" He laughed. "But no it wasn't, maybe one day, but not yet."

Zaku was beginning to prepare to charge Naruto again. "You sure you don't wanna quit now?" The blond asked. "I respect your will to not give up, but you're really outclassed here."

"Shut up!" Zaku Yelled extending his arms. "Decapitating Airwaves!" Naruto threw a kunai to the wall off to the right of Zaku, quickly substituting with it, he coiled his legs and sprung off the flat surface at high speed. Arriving at Zaku in no time, Naruto smashed his foot into the other boy's face sending him to the ground. Naruto stood over him and held a kunai to the downed boy's chin.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto." The proctor announced promptly following up with a cough.

"Heh, you're next….Sasuke!" Naruto called to his teammate, then proceeded to jump back up the the viewing platform. Most of the crowd around him however, was stunned. Mostly because they had just watched the boy body an Oto nin without so much as a single hand seal. For the jounin however, at least those who knew Minato, they were in shock. They had just watched a boy who looked quite a lot like their late Hokage, defeat an enemy nin in a manner oh so similar to his very tactics

Hayate then broke the silence. "Ehhem." He cleared his throat and coughed again. "Uchiha Sasuke versus, Inuzuka Kiba."

"Heh, time to show you who's top dog, Sasuke!" The feral boy yelled jumping down.

"I'm already above being a dog, mutt." The raven retorted, also jumping down.

"Begin!"

Sasuke and Kiba locked eyes, and Sasuke's flashed to that of the Sharingan. Seconds later Kiba collapsed to the floor, Akamaru desperately trying to wake him.

"I've locked him in a Sharingan genjutsu. It's over." The proctor waited a few more moments, to give the other boy a chance to break it, however as he moved to end the match, Akamaru bit down on Kiba's hand. Hard.

"Ow! Akamaru what the-..." the boy trailed off. "Fuck, you got me in a genjutsu. Did I lose?"

"Not yet." the proctor answered.

Sasuke moved to activate his Sharingan once again, but a burning pain from his curse seal stopped him. Kiba got in a solid kick to the Uchiha's face because of the hesitation. Unfortunately for Kiba, Sasuke had managed to activate his Sharingan a few times during Rock Lee and Gaara's match, thus he picked up a few tricks.

The two boys met in the middle of the arena, immediately trading blows. Sasuke was gaining the upper hand quickly. Kiba jumped back fully intent on collaborating with Akamaru, but Sasuke appeared beside the boy, kicking him into the air. The Uchiha followed close behind, and with a flip kick just like Naruto's he sent the dog-lover back down. Unfortunately for Sasuke he couldn't outpace the boy to the ground as Naruto had done. So in turn the raven followed through with the kick all the way to the ground. Kiba was more than done now, not able to get up. And even if he could, Sasuke was now holding a kunai to Akamaru's neck. The proctor called the match there.

"Alright all match winners please come down." Hayate said, following with a short bout of coughing. The group of genin destin for the finals lined up in front of the sickly jounin. The Hokage came forward to stand next to the proctor.

"You've all shown considerable skill. As well as the determination to be considered for chunin. The finals will be held in a month. You will have time to recover, train, and prepare." The elderly Hokage turned and left.

"Alright, time to decide match setup." He once again interrupted himself with a bout of coughs. "You'll draw a number from this container."

Naruto drew first. "One"

"Five." The female of the sand siblings piped off.

"Three." Team Seven's pinkette said aloud.

"Seven." Said the stoic voice of Aburame Shino.

"Nine." The last Uchiha smiled, he was confident the finals would end with a battle between himself and Naruto, his best friend, and rival.

"Four." Dosu smiled, thinking of getting pay back for the forest.

"Six, what a drag." The Nara really just couldn't be bothered.

"Eight." Kankuro said with a cocky tone.

"Two." said Neji. Naruto smiled, as he'd have the chance to beat that bastard in front of everyone.

"Ten." Said Gaara, a sickening smile spreading across his face.

Hayate looked at Rikka, "you'll fight the winner of the first match. Okay?"

"Yeah, I got it." She replied in monotone.

Hayate looked at the genin. He smirked and started with the line ups.

"First match, Uzumaki Naruto versus, Hyuga Neji. Second match will be the winner of match one versus, Hinazuki Rikka. Third match will consist of Haruno Sakura, versus Dosu. Fourth will be Nara Shikamaru, versus Temari. Fifth match will be Aburame Shino versus Kankuro. Final match will be Uchiha Sasuke, against Gaara." He dismissed the genin, after which he took his leave to head home.

* * *

_**Sorry for such a short chapter. I honestly don't like having to write the canon stuff that much. That's why if I haven't changed anything, I gloss over it. Sorry if that bothers anyone. But I can promise you, some of the fights I've written for later in the story get **__**good**_ _**so please, stay tuned. Anyway that's all for now. Darling in the Fox out, see ya!**_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

_**Sup. Nine is here hope ya like it. **_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, Sakura would actually slowly get better.**_

* * *

Naruto awoke in his bed the next day. It was eight in the morning, and he needed to make the most of this month for training. He figured he'd find Kakashi-sensei, and get the white haired jounin to teach him some new jutsu. Well that was until he stepped out the door, and felt Dragon, one of the Hokage's personal ANBU, was headed straight for him. That said he stood and seconds later Dragon was standing before him. "Uhhhhh...hey, how can I help you Dragon?" The blond asked.

"Lord Third Hokage has requested your presence in the Hokage tower." The stated simply.

"Understood. I'll make my way there, unless you plan to body flicker us there?" The masked operative responded by stepping forward and placing his hand on the boy's shoulder, which led them to the Hokage's office in seconds.

"Lord Third." The boy and the man said simultaneously while bowing.

"Ah young Naruto. How are you today?"

"I'm wonderful sir, but I was hoping to start my training for the finals today so, could we be quick please?" The boy said.

"Ah yes but I think you'll like to hear what I'm about to tell you."

"Sir?"

"I've arranged a sensei for your month of training. Kakashi will be training Sasuke, but you will have an equally adept teacher."

"Well I did teach the Fourth Hokage after all." The window behind Sarutobi opened, revealing a massive man with long white hair. He wore a horned forehead protector with the kanji for oil engraved upon it, along with a red haori.

Naruto's eyes widened. "L-lord Jiraiya!? Um it's and honor sir." The boy said while bowing.

"Hey look at that! Sensei, this kid has good manners!"

"Ah yes, that he does Jiraiya. Now since introductions have been made, why don't you take the boy off for some training." Hiruzen chuckled.

"What!?" Naruto's jaw hit the floor as it finally clicked. "Wait did you really mean I get to train under one of the _Sannin_!?" The boy laughed aloud in joy. "Thank you Lord Hokage, this means so much to me! I won't let you down."

"I have complete faith that you won't my boy. Now get going." The village leader smiled.

"Alright then, come on kid."

"Right away Lord Jiraiya!"

"Enough with that formal crap, just call me sensei."

"Um yes sir Jiraiya-sensei."

* * *

"Sasuke, I'm going to teach you the jutsu I created myself. It's a jutsu to be used to kill your enemies so that you can protect your comrades."

"You created this yourself sensei?" Sasuke was pleasantly surprised that the man who had copied over a thousand ninjutsu, had even created his own.

"I was inspired by a jutsu of the Fourth Hokage's. And I in turn developed this one." Kakashi slid through his hand seals, years of practice and refinement showing itself, his hand bust to life in a blue hue of lightning, while the chirping of a thousand birds filled the air. "This, Sasuke is the Chidori. I'm going to teach you this in faith that you will use it only to protect your village and your comrades."

"I understand Sensei, let's get started?" The boy offered to the masked jounin.

* * *

"Shino is currently training with his clan for the exams, so Kakashi called in a favor. And I'm happily going to teach you more about genjutsu and help you refine and strengthen your techniques." Said the red eyed woman, know as Yuhi Kurenai.

"I appreciate your help a lot Kurenai-sensei, thank you for this opportunity!" The pink haired girl said, full of enthusiasm.

"Good. Now let's get started."

* * *

"Alright Naruto, do it again." Half of the month was already over, and the technique Jiraiya was currently teaching the prodigal son was almost complete. Naruto disappeared from one side of the clearing and reappeared in another, however he slammed head first into a tree. The old Sannin cackled at the boys expense. "You're doing good Naruto. You've almost got it down if I'm honest. The body flicker takes precise chakra control, and a sharp and clear mind to execute, applications in combat are even more difficult."

The sage had decided with the boy's uncanny love for speed just like his father, the body flicker would be the best weapon he could give the boy. Against byakugan or the Sharingan, it didn't matter if your opponent could see your moves as long as you were to fast for them to react to it.

The Sannin smiled as the boy stood with a groan, recovering from hitting the tree. "Other than the Fourth Hokage's natural speed alone, only he and Uchiha Shisui have ever mastered the body flicker enough to make the speed aspect of it useful on the battlefield. Although Minato would later become known for his use of the Flying Raijin, he still executed a lot of his technique and showcased his speed with this jutsu alone."

"I think I can get it this time." Once again Naruto disappeared from one place and reappeared in another, kunai drawn, and combat ready. "I did it! I really did it y'know!" The boy smiled at his sensei. "So what now?"

"Well now, we spar so you can figure out how to use the body flicker in combat, because I believe you are one of the only shinobi capable of adding yourself to the list that only Minato, and Shisui of the body flicker have their names on." They would battle in the field until dark.

"That's gonna do it for tonight Naruto, go get some rest, and tomorrow we'll continue to refine your body flicker, along with another technique I have planned for you." The toad sage finished with a smirk. He and the boy parted ways, the sage heading to the bar to spend time with the ladies, and the boy dragged himself into bed.

The next morning, Naruto met the older shinobi at the training ground. "Heya Jiraiya-sensei!" The young man called out.

"Ohohoh! Naruto, how's it going? Ready for a big day kid?"

"Of course I am sensei!"

"Alright let's get started then! We're going to spar for most of today and then we will begin work on the other jutsu I plan to teach you." The sage grinned at the boy. "During this spar I want you to go out of your way to try to incorporate the body flicker as much as possible into the hummingbird fist. With your high chakra levels it shouldn't be hard to keep snapping around and stuff, however you have to remember the body flicker dulls your senses while in use. It causes tunnel vision, and if you can't immediately regain the tactical knowledge of the battlefield and just as quickly react to new threats, then it's useless. Got it?"

"Yes sir!" The boy waited for the sage to signal a start. The older man waved his hand and waited for the boy to come at him. Jiraiya was gonna go easy on the boy, but he wasn't going to let him hit him, he couldn't let that kind of blow to his pride happen. The boy zipped across the field at the experienced shinobi and launched into a spin kick, which the man caught throwing the boy away from him. The boy was at his side again, via body flicker. However as the large man had told him, his senses were dulled. He barely managed to get enough grip on the battlefield to avoid the head crushing punch the Sannin threw at him. Naruto flickered away appearing by a tree and throwing a handful of shuriken at the elder shinobi. The shinobi simply dodged the spinning blades, only for his eyes to widen as the boy disappeared a kunai appearing where he had been standing. "_That bright little brat hid a kunai in that group of shuriken, he knew I wouldn't block them." _Jiraiya thought. Spinning around to catch Naruto's hard kick aimed at his head.

The boy, however disappeared via flicker and popped up right behind the Sannin, swiping at him with a brandished kunai. The man caught his wrist and tossed him over his head. The boy tumbled a second then righted himself, burning through hand seals, "Wind Style: Gale Palm!" A powerful gust of wind barreled toward the sage, and pushed him back a few feet.

The man smiled at the boy. "You're gonna have to do better than that Naruto!"

"Oh come on I'm already outclassed! You're a damn Sannin!"

"Don't start whining! Now come at me boy!"

"Yes sensei!" The boy replied launching at the older male once again. Jiraiya proceeded to beat the boy up, and point out his flaws as well as help him correct them for the rest of the day. As it hit dusk, the sage stopped the fighting. He threw the boy into a tree fairly hard. "_Good I think I've drained a good chunk of his chakra, that should make this easier." _He thought to himself. "Naruto! Come here a minute!"

"Oww...yes sensei. Coming!" The boy ran over and the man smiled, he really was so much like his late student and his wife.

"Now Naruto, you know what a summon is correct?"

"Yessir. Tsunade, Orochimaru, and you, all hold well know summon contracts. You possess the toad summoning contract, which you allowed your student the Fourth Hokage to sign." The boy rattled off the facts like he learned them yesterday.

"Good, you do know. Now I think I've taken a liking to you boy, how would you like to be the next toad summoner?"

"Wait what!? Jiraiya-sensei, you don't mean? You really want me to sign it? Are you sure?" Naruto sputtered our words in pure shock.

"Of course I'm sure you idiot. Especially because if you make chunin, I'll take you as my apprentice." The Sannin said smiling.

"W-What!? Are you sure? Why...why would you take me..I'm not special...I-I don't know what to say. There's no reason to take me as an appr-" The boy was in pure shock at this point, barely getting his words out when the sage interrupted him.

"I have my reasons, Naruto. But let's just say you remind me of my last apprentice quite a bit." The older man smiled fondly at the boy. "_Minato and Kushina, I'm sorry I wasn't there for him for so long, but I won't let you down anymore. He's just so much like the both of you. You'd be so proud." _The man thought of his last student, and how he had no doubt this boy would surpass him. "So what do you say, Naruto?"

"T-thank you..Jiraiya-sensei. I'm honored.. this means the world to me." The blond smiled up at the white haired man.

"Alright let's get to work then." The man said.

By nightfall, Naruto had already summoned Gamakichi, which was a feat in its own all things considered, but Jiraiya knew he had to get this done while the boy's chakra was low. "Alright Naruto. To summon a larger toad, you are going to need more chakra.. it's time for that big furball in your gut to pay some rent."

"Um… yes sir, but how do I do that?" He grabbed Naruto by the shoulders and gave a simple reply.

"Well.. don't die." He said and threw the boy though the air, the smaller shinobi was in so much shock he didn't even think to substitute. And so he found himself falling, falling into and absolutely massive crevasse.

"_I'm gonna fuckin die! That old shitty perv! I'm gonna kill him_!" Naruto fell and suddenly found himself in a sewer.

"_What the fuck? Where am I?" _

"**Come here boy…." **A massive deep and echoing voice ripped through the tunnels. He walked along them until he came to a doorway. What he saw when he stepped through, shocked him. A massive room, with a massive cage to match. "**And so.. my jailer finally has the nerve to visit me." **The same deep voice rumbled from the cave.

"Show yourself! I know you're in there….Nine Tails."

A massive Fox with nine swinging tails appeared and stepped right up to the gate. "**Do not order me like some animal, mortal."**

"Well uh… sorry. But um… look we're both stuck with each other y'know! And well I don't want to die and I'm sure you don't either! So well...help me help you not die! If you're willing to lend me chakra, I'll do everything in my power and more to keep us both alive!" Naruto said to the massive demon fox that had destroyed his village.

The Nine Tails was honestly stunned. Never in a million years, would he have guessed this little shit that his previous container and her stupid Hokage husband had created, would come and for the most part ask kindly for his chakra. He only had one thought at that moment. "_**What the fuck?"**_

"So um what do you say, wanna be partners?" The Nine Tails growled at this causing Naruto to rephrase his question. "I mean uh, wanna be associates, and we can benefit each other?"

"**You're definitely different from the others you stupid brat. I don't trust you, nor do I like you or your despicable village, however. I do not want to die, nor do I wish to have a weak host. Become strong, so I can kill you as a worthy opponent one day." **The demon fox growled out at the boy.

"Um, I don't like the idea of dying too much, but yeah sure sounds good to me!"

The fox almost huffed in amusement, but held back. "**Good, now get out."**

Naruto then found himself falling once again, now however he sensed the powerful chakra of his burden, and flashed through the summoning hand seals. "Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!" At this the massive hulking form of Gamabunta, the boss toad appeared within the crevasse and halted their fall.

"**What! Who the hell summoned me! Jiraiya! Where the hell are you!**"

"Um excuse me, Lord Gamabunta, I summoned you. I am Uzumaki Naruto. I'm a shinobi of Konoha, the jinchuriki of the Nine tailed fox, and soon to be the new apprentice of your summoner Jiraiya." Naruto said to the boss toad as politely as possible.

"**Hmm at least your damn brat here has some manners, unlike you Jiraiya!**" The toad called out. "**Alright fine then boy, I'll accept you as a summoner.** **We'll have to share a drink sometime, you bring the sake though! Bye kid!**" Bunta threw Naruto back unto solid ground, and the boy waved goodbye as the toad disappeared in a huge cloud of smoke.

Clapping was heard coming from behind the blond and he turned to see his new sensei approaching from the trees. "Well well well! Look at you, good job Naruto!"

"What the hell did you throw me off a cliff for you old bastard!"

"Ah shut up brat it worked didn't it?"

Naruto sighed, "Yes sensei it worked." They conversed for a while, before they went back to training and eventually both shinobi went their separate ways. Naruto and the Sannin trained for the rest of the month leading to the chunin exams. Jiraiya would say that the blond almost did have mastery of the body flicker, but the boy still needed time to fully incorporate it into his fighting style.

* * *

This was it, the exams were here, and Naruto was ready to rock and roll. He was finally going to be able to put that damn Hyuuga in his place. The boy was very excited for another reason as well. He would get to make a very dramatic entrance alongside Sasuke, Kakashi, and Jiraiya-sensei.

**Flashback **

"_Oi, Naruto come here." The boy quickly trotted up to his sensei. _

"_What's up?" The jinchuriki asked inquisitively._

"_Well two things actually. After your encounter with Orochimaru we're fairly certain he may try to attack the village during the exams." The blond's eyes widened, he was shocked. "However, the Old Man wants to show me off. He wants my presence in the village to be know, in an attempt to deter an attack in the first place, as well as demoralize any assaulting forces." The boy looked at the man a look of obvious confusion in his eyes._

"_How do you plan to do that, Jiraiya-sensei?"_

"_Well kid, I'm going to show up with you in a sort of flashy entrance at the finals. Kakashi will be doing the same with Sasuke, we want to show off two of the strongest shinobi in the village, as well as the two most promising genin."_

"_Ah I see sensei, that makes sense."_

"_Indeed. However on the second notion, you used to play pranks right kid?"_

"_Yeah! I was super good too!" Naruto responded laughing. _

"_Wel Naruto you look a lot like my last apprentice, and I was wondering if you wanted to prank the hell out of those villagers who don't like you for your burden?"_

_Naruto looked excited but confused. "Yeah! But how do you propose we do that sensei?" _

_The Sannin pulled a large cloak from his scroll, a white cloak with orange and blue flames licking the bottom, just the right size for Naruto. "I want you to show up in this." The sage laughed, "you'll look so much like the Fourth the whole village will shit a brick!" _

"_Sensei…..you're brilliant! This'll be awesome y'know!" Naruto yelled laughing in excitement. _

"_Indeed it will boy, now let's work on our entrance, can't let Kakashi and the Uchiha show us up." The two shinobi smiled at each other._

**Flashback end**

It was time. The finals were here. Naruto was about to rock the fragile minds of the entire village. But something had been on his mind since Jiraiya sensei had gave him his new cloak. He looked in the mirror with it on. He really did look so much like the Fourth Hokage. It was uncanny. The way his bangs framed his face, or the way his spiky blond hair stood upon his head. It made him wonder… could the Fourth, maybe just maybe be his f-...no that couldn't be it, a man like the Fourth Hokage, a hero and shinobi so untouchable by normal people couldn't be his… oh well, no time to dwell. He sat and thought of his late mother, reaching over to his nightstand beside his bed, he retrieved the picture Old Man Sarutobi had given him of her. He smiled, she really was just so beautiful. "_Watch me mother, I'm gonna win this whole exam, and I'll become a chunin! Wish me luck mother…" _He thought as he set the picture down sensing Jiraiya-sensei was about to reach his door, Naruto ran over and opened it before the man could knock and said "I'm ready sensei."

"Jesus brat! Don't do that shit. Anyway, you remember how we practiced right?"

"Yes sensei. I'm ready."

"Alrighty then boy, let's get going." The two shinobi disappeared in a swirl of leaves. The immediately met with Kakashi and Sasuke. The four of them all prepared to arrive in style. They stood in a hidden spot outside the exam stadium. Kakashi was stunned at how Naruto looked. The cloak sold it, he looked like a mini Fourth Hokage. "It's time." Said the Sannin and the four shinobi prepared to appear in the stadium.

* * *

Genma was sad having to proctor in place of his dead friend. Yugao was devastated, and rightfully so. She had lost her lover, after all. Either way it was time. "All contestants please come forward." The chunin hopefuls lined up a distance away from Genma. They were all confused at the absence of Sasuke and Naruto. Well, that was until a cloud of smoke filled the space between them and their proctor.

As the smoke drifted away they were greeted with an unexpected sight. Before then stood Naruto and Sasuke. Side by side with their sensei standing just behind them. Many of the contestants and onlookers were shocked to see Jiraiya of the Sannin towering over the smaller blond. But what threw off almost everyone in the stadium, was the sight of their beloved Fourth Hokage. The bangs that framed his face, fluttered slightly in the wind, he was shorter than they remembered, and since when had he sported whiskers on his cheeks?

Realization began to dawn on many, as they noticed the addition of blue and orange flames in place of the red, and the absence of kanji on the back of the cloak. Realization hit even harder as they saw just _who_ they were looking at. That was the Nine Tails jinchuriki, that was _Uzumaki Naruto_, and why did he look like a carbon copy of the very Hokage that had saved the village thirteen years ago.

* * *

_**I feel like I gave away to Naruto who his dad is. But I wanted to write that final scene really bad, so I decided not to give a fuck. I want Naruto to have his suspicions about who his father is as well. Also in all reality, Naruto does know, he's just in a state of denial, because to him the Fourth Hokage is an unreachable object. Something so great no one can compare. Darling in the Fox out!**_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

_**Yo, finals time baby. Have fun. Giving ya last chapter, and this chapter, only minutes apart! But I'm also gonna have to wait a bit to upload. I have to write ahead some more before I am comfortable posting the next few chapters. Plus, it takes time to edit this stuff for mistakes. Along with making sure it flows correctly and is a good read.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. I'm just messing with his story.**_

* * *

Sarutobi smiled, Jiraiya really outdid himself this time. It was impressive, the way Naruto resembled Minato. The sight alone made the villagers question how they looked at him, a step in the right direction. He felt the Kazekage beside him stiffen ever so slightly at the sight of the boy and the Sannin. He knew this man was not the Kazekage, the old Hokage knew more than Orochimaru thought. But had hope even though he knew it was futile, that seeing Jiraiya here would make the traitor hold his attack off a while longer.

"Dosu of Otogakure, has not arrived and cannot be located. He will be disqualified, and Hinazuki Rikka will fight Haruno Sakura in his place to keep the flow going." The proctor informed the crowd before continuing. "First match, Hyuga Neji against Uzumaki Naruto."

Jiraiya turned to his blond pupil. "Hey good luck kid. Kick ass." Smiling he flicked off to the Kage box.

"Thanks Jiraiya-sensei."

* * *

At the Kage box, Hiruzen addressed Jiraiya's arrival. "So my student, how did his training go?"

"He's faster than ever now Sarutobi-sensei. He's truly a terrifying force."

"_There's no way...it's not possible he taught the boy __**that **__technique. No of course not. It's completely unlikely. Jiraiya himself doesn't even know how to perform it. __**I**_ _myself couldn't even figure it out._" Orochimaru thought to himself.

* * *

Naruto stood across from Neji staring the Hyuga down. "Between my eyes and your fate. You will lose here to me."

"Can it Hyuga, I promised you a beating, not a heartfelt conversation. Maybe after I'm done kicking your ass, but not before."

Neji looked as if he was about to speak, but Genma interrupted anything the boy might say. "Begin!"

The Hyuga prodigy quickly activated his byakugan, only for his eyes too widen as he saw Naruto behind him. "_How!?" _He thought. He quickly spun to intercept the strike the blond had prepared only to be met with the sight of the boy, behind him again. Appearing in a handstand that allowed him to bring both his feet to bare in a vicious kick to the Hyuga's side. Said kick launched the older boy across the stadium, and into the wall with a resounding impact.

Neji stood quickly. "_What the hell just happened?" _

"Your all seeing eyes can show you everything I do. But it won't matter if you aren't fast enough to react to it." Naruto said from across the stadium field.

Neji stood silent, not knowing what exactly to say in reply. Naruto suddenly threw a large group of kunai at the long haired boy, who quickly deflected them with his own. The blond smiled, and Neji's eyes widened as a kunai was suddenly where Naruto had just been and he felt a fist smash into the back of his skull. Naruto had substituted with one of the kunai and immediately transferred into a body flicker to put him directly behind the older boy.

Neji hit the dirt with an angry snarl. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. This blond bastard was faster than Lee. How could he counter something he couldn't even react to. Neji stood, and immediately launched into an attack at Naruto, just as his first palm strike was about to hit the speedster, he hit a kunai instead. He realized he had ran right past one of the previously deflected kunai as Naruto appeared beside him, kicking his legs out from under him and planting his fist in the Hyuga's face before he even hit the ground.

Neji knew he needed a counter. And he needed it now. He jumped to his feet, throwing a smoke bomb on the ground. He knew at the very least he could see better in the smoke than the Uzumaki could.

"Oi...Hyuga. You should know my team an I fought Momochi Zabuza, the Demon Of Kirigakure, one of the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure. He was a master of the hidden mist jutsu, and the art of silent killing. Because of that man...I can fight just fine without my eyes." Naruto said to the older boy.

"It doesn't matter. You may be skilled but you will lose here." Neji channeled chakra throughout his body and pushed himself to his limits. He had to keep up with the blond. The blond flickered next to him preparing to strike, but the Hyuga was able to pull of his Eight Trigrams: Revolving Heaven technique. "Rotation!" A dome of chakra spawned around the Hyuga knocking Naruto back fairly hard.

"Heh, nice trick." Naruto said mockingly "_I'm actually unsure of how to handle that. If he's able to pull it off before I move he might have a chance. It doesn't matter. I'll find a way." He thought to himself. _As soon as the Hyuga dropped his dome, Naruto body flickered to him, only to be once again met with a dome of chakra. "_How did he know I was gonna move? Ah...shit he's probably taking note of when chakra is focused in my body for a technique. How am I gonna handle this?" _Naruto was officially stumped he had no idea how to get around this defense of the Hyuga's.

Neji smirked. The blond was definitely stumped. "It's time for you to lose." Neji charged at Naruto, managing to get close enough to start throwing palm strikes at the younger boy. Naruto however was fast enough to dodge most of them. A few of his tenketsu had been closed but he would deal. The older boy came at him for a solid strike that was sure to hit, and Naruto made the active decision to substitute with a kunai.

The jinchuriki was unsure of what to do with himself now. Neji now has a solid strategy, and Naruto had to get around it. He smirked, he had an idea that might work. He sped through hand seals and twenty water clones appeared around him.

"You can make clones all you want, but I can tell the difference between them and you." The Hyuga taunted.

"That's not what they're for."

Naruto's clones ran in at the older boy. Half kept their distance but the other half moved to engage. He quickly spawned another twenty that lined up behind his others. At the very least if it came down to it, Naruto could win this fight through pure stamina. But that wasn't how he wanted to win. While the clones engaged with the Hyuga and were subsequently dispatched, Naruto laid out his plan. He placed explosive tags all over the arena in different locations to act as traps. He then began to gather chakra, and he knew this shit was going to hurt. A lot. He would probably win with it though. His clones were almost all gone by now so he had to act fast. Instead of waiting for Neji to take out his last five clones, he body flickered right next to the older boy, managing to get a solid spin kick into his stomach before substituting with one of his clones so that it could take Neji's counter strike.

Naruto flickered into one of his many explosive placements, and focused his chakra. He had dispersed a ton in the air around Neji when he hit him, and as soon as the prodigy dispatched his last clone Naruto made his move. He enclosed all of his chakra around the boy, and forcefully substituted with him. Leaving the Hyuga confused, and in a ten by ten square of explosive tags, that Naruto then detonated. "Explode!"

The ground shook and the byakugan wielding boy was launched head over heels into the air. However Neji wasn't done yet and landed on his feet. He was battered and bruised, but not down. "How!" He practically growled. "How did you move me?"

"I have a lot of chakra. I forced it around you and substituted with your body, but it only worked because you were standing still." Naruto explained. "I'm sure I won't get that chance again." He said throwing another volley of kunai at the Hyuga prodigy. Neji quickly got out of the way and moved as far away from them as possible. "Sorry Neji, but it's time I end this, Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Wind tore apart the ground as it barreled toward the taijutsu specialist.

"Rotation!" A dome of chakra lit up around Neji negating Naruto's jutsu, but just as Neji released his rotation and he came to a stop he was facing kunai from ten different angles. In the time it took the prodigy to defend against Naruto's jutsu, the blond had made nine Water Clones, giving all of them real kunai to throw, as he didn't want the kunai to disappear if his clones did. They all body flickered around Neji and had thrown their kunai. All the knives would intersect at the point that was Neji's body.

The Hyuga was too off balance to return to his rotating motion so, he was forced to deflect and dodge the kunai. He deflected six of them and jumped over the other four, however Neji was in for pain, and he knew it.

As he was about to land the four kunai all flew away from him, Naruto appeared in place of one with a new kunai in hand, which he caught Neji lightly across the chest with. The Hyuga was pushed back slightly, and Naruto appeared behind him placing a spin kick into his back. Neji stared as the kunai he saw before him turned into Naruto once again, who planted his sandel in the Hyuga's teeth. Launched back once more he wasn't surprised when the blond appeared behind him in a handstand, angling his body as both of his feet collided with the older boy's spine, sending him flying across the field and smashing loudly into the wall. Neji didn't stand again. "Denkosekka!" Finished the blond.

He was barely conscious as his back slid down the wall and he landed on the ground. Naruto flickered into existence in front of him. The blond leaned down to look him in the eye. "Honestly Neji, you did amazing. I can't substitute with a kunai again for the next two days. If that last technique hadn't worked I might have lost. But you fight for all the wrong reasons. You need to re-evaluate why you became a ninja, I know of your burden, I too bare one similar. Mine to many would be considered much worse than yours, however. But I don't give in to this seal placed upon me. I won't ever let it control me, nor who I am. You have so many people who want to be close to you. Don't throw that away." With that, Naruto held a kunai to Neji's throat. "Proctor, please call the match?"

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto turned to face the crowd, cloak billowing in a way reminiscent of that of their very own Fourth Hokage. He fought so much like him and he didn't even entirely realize it. He knew he took inspiration, but that was it.

"_Brat doesn't even know he's almost fully re-created some of Minato's techniques. He really is impressive." _Jiraiya thought to himself. The crowd cheered loudly for the blond, something that slightly shocked the boy. He smiled at them gave a wave and returned to the contestant stand. Meanwhile the medics came out and carried Neji away.

* * *

As Naruto strolled into the contestant booth, he was met with Sasuke and Sakura.

"Wow! Naruto, you were amazing!" The pinkette said to the jinchuriki.

"Heh thanks Sakura."

"Naruto." Sasuke called out.

"Sup S'ke?"

"You're the one I want to fight the most. Out of all the challenges here, our battle will be the greatest." The last Uchiha said with a smirk.

"Better not lose your fight then." Naruto said back with a cocky smile.

"Pfft as if."

"But seriously Sasuke." Naruto said eyes growing serious. "Be careful. You saw what he did to Lee and I'm honestly surprised they didn't rig it for me to fight him, considering we are both jinchuriki. But just don't die got it bastard?" Naruto finished.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted in return.

* * *

"Will Haruno Sakura, and Hinazuki Rikka please come down?"

The two women stared each other down. Sakura remembered the girl faintly, but other than the preliminaries she was pulling blanks. She had watched the girl overpower her opponent in the preliminary match, so she knew she was strong.

"Let's have a good match?" The pinkette offered.

"Sure." The girl replied with indifference.

The pinkette studied the girl, taking in what she looked like. She had blue shoulder length hair and red eyes. She wore a dark grey sleeveless jacket with a hood, but it was down, along with a mesh armor shirt underneath along with black shorts. She had bandages wrapped down the length of her legs, and on her right side she wore her bag for equipment and was outfitted with typical sandals of the shinobi. One thing was out of place however, and that was the long burnt orange scarf she wore around her neck. She had red marks almost like that of an Inuzuka. but they came up from the sides of her face ending below her eyes and were upside down. (Like Rin's but pointed.)

Sakura had watched the Rikka fight in the preliminary match, the girl had thrown around a lot of Fire jutsu, leading the pinkette to suspect that she had fairly high chakra reserves. She would need to be careful, especially if she used the strength technique she and Kakashi had come up with, which she had dubbed the Haruno fist. It consumed way to much chakra, and it was highly possible her opponent could win this match though pure stamina.

"Begin!" Shouted out Genma.

Sakura immediately launched forward activating her strength technique, she intended to attempt to end this quickly. The other Konoha genin however was fast in her own right, jumping away and flashing through hand seals as Sakura's heel drop proceeded to decimate the ground she had just stood on. "Fire Style: Foxfire!" Ten balls of fire appeared around Rikka, and with her hands she began launching them at the pinkette.

Sakura responded in kind with a jutsu of her own. "Earth Style: Terra Shield!" A wall of earth rose in front of her blocking the fire that aimed to char her skin.

Rikka once again began a sequence of hand seals. "Fire Style: Flame Bombs!" She spat two large balls of fire that expanded upon impact next to Sakura's shield. The pinkette then came out of the ground behind the stoic girl, slamming her foot into the ground inches behind her as she barely managed to dodge. The ground imploded where she had stood, but she managed to bring her body around and launch into another attack. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" A burst of flame sparked from her mouth engulfing Sakura, who immediately substituted with a log but had still received minor burns.

Sakura was slightly ticked off. The other girl was faster than her, and she just couldn't seem to get the drop on her. She decided to subtlety cast Genjutsu: Optic Delusory on her opponent. This made her enemy perceive her as moving slower than she was, allowing Sakura's next attack to land a solid kick into Rikka's abdomen, launching the bluenette across the field. Sakura smirked, things were looking up.

Rikka hurt. A lot. Her whole body ached from that one landed hit. She couldn't get hit by that again. She had a bit of skill in medical ninjutsu, so she ran her palm over her lower body and healed as much as she could as quickly as possible.

Sakura saw the girl begin healing herself. "_Crap I didn't expect that. And note to self, learn medical ninjutsu." _Sakura grunted. A war of attrition it would be then. This time it was Rikka who charged in, engaging the pink haired girl in a fast paced bout of taijutsu that didn't leave her room to really get off a good high powered hit. Rikka took advantage of this, slamming her foot into Sakura's chest and launching herself backwards away from the girl. As she flew she tossed a round of kunai, which had timed explosive tags attached. The resounding explosion shoot the stadium lightly. But Sakura was alright. Beat up and starting to reach her limit, but she was alright.

"Fire Style: Red Spider!" Fire surrounded the female member of Team Seven, and a spider made of pure fire charged at her intent on turning her crisp. Sakura however, had something up her sleeve.

She punched the ground in front of her as hard as she could, launching enough earthen debris up into the path of the spider to completely disperse the jutsu. Sakura was tired though. Her reserves were almost depleted the strength technique she and Kakashi had made was extremely wasteful when it came to chakra. "_Shit I might lose this." _

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" A large concentrated stream of fire tore across the arena at the pinkette. She barely had time to dodge. When she hit the ground Sakura made strategic decision.

"Proctor! I forfeit. My chakra is all but depleted." She said sadly.

"Winner of this match is Hinazuki Rikka!"

The crowd cheered as Rikka walked over to the downed member of Team Seven. She offer a hand to help Sakura up. "I respect your skill. If I hadn't know medical jutsu, that kick you landed would have been the end of it. Maybe we can spar some time."

"Thank you, you're of extraordinary talent. I'm really impressed, I'd love to spar sometime." Sakura said standing with the help of her opponent. The crowd cheered some more, and medics came and helped Sakura away from the arena.

"Will Nara Shikamaru, and Temari of Suna please come down." Genma called out wishing to continue matches in an orderly fashion. The two opponents came down, and prepared themselves. Although, Naruto practically had to kick Shikamaru out of the contestant booth. "Begin!" Called Genma and both contestants leapt away from each other.

If you asked Naruto, he was extremely impressed by the amount of tactical thinking and strategic analysis that went on in this fight. It was rare to have the chance to watch two master tacticians battle it out. These kinds of battles were absolutely awesome to watch in Naruto's opinion. It also helped him improve and take tips from both fighters to help shape his own battle planning abilities. In the end, Naruto wasn't exactly surprised when Shikamaru decided to forfeit. The Nara was out of chakra and obviously physically tired. It was a sound strategic move on his part.

"Aburame Shino, versus Kankuro of Suna. Will the contestants please come down."

Before Shino could even move, Kankuro called out. "Actually Proctor I'd like to forfeit."

"Fine winner is Aburame Shino by forfeit. And next time you decide your gonna waste people's time, do it in a way that doesn't _embarrass _your village." Said Genma making Kankuro recoil slightly.

In the Kage box, Jiraiya whistled next to the Hokage.

"Oh damn he really just roasted that kid didn't he, Sarutobi-sensei?"

"Yes I suppose he did Jiraiya." Hiruzen chuckled.

Genma looked around the stadium. People were excited for this one. Oh well it was time. "Will Uchiha Sasuke, and Gaara of Suna please come down." Both genin were on the battlefield in an instant. Sasuke smirked, he was going to wipe out this sand genin with his new jutsu and blaze a trail till his fight with Naruto.

"Begin!"

Sasuke immediately blitzed Gaara, proceeding to outclass the Suna nin in speed and taijutsu. Gaara was getting beat an he knew it. And it was pissing mother off. So he would kill this swine and give his blood to her. Gaara launched back enclosing himself in a ball of sand. Suddenly sand floated into the air above him gathering to form an eye.

"_What the hell kind of technique is this? No matter if he wants to use this defense I'll pierce it with Chidori." _Sasuke thought. He ran up the side of the stadium wall to give himself a lot of distance. "_Monkey, Dragon, Rat, Bird, Ox, Snake, Dog, Tiger, Monkey." _He held out his arm and it was engulfed in lightning chakra. "Chidori!" He called out while blasting down the wall and across the ground at Gaara's dome. Dodging the spikes of sand that burst from the dome upon his arrival he slammed his hand through the dome and hit Gaara's shoulder.

A cry rang across the stadium, "my blood! It's my blood! You'll die here, Uchiha!" A massive arm ripped through the sand dome, tossing away the Uchiha prodigy.

"Kaka-sensei! You gotta stop this fight right now!" Shouted Naruto.

"I can't do that Naruto, trust me Sasuke has this under con-"

"No sensei! Gaara's a jinchuriki, like me but the One Tail. If this thing gets out of control…"

"I-I see…" responded the jounin of Team Seven, but before anyone could act feathers began to fall into the stadium, caused by a mass genjutsu. "Shit! Naruto, the village is under attack. I hate to say this to you because you know how I feel about it as well, but you're Konoha's jinchuriki. I need you to go assist Sasuke and prevent Gaara from releasing the One Tails! I'll try to get back up to you! Now go!"

"Yes Sensei!" Naruto flickered down next to Sasuke who was watching Gaara closely. "S'ke! We gotta chase this bastard out of the village! Now!"

"Got it!"

"Combo five!"

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

A massive torrent of fire barreled toward the enemy jinchuriki, he immediately took off smashing a massive hole through the stadium wall and running into the forest.

"Let's go, Sasuke!"

"Right!"

The two boys took off after the Suna nin in hot pursuit. It would lead to a battle that would be well know throughout Konohagakure.

* * *

_**That was a fun one to write y'know! When Neji says that Naruto is fast than Lee, he is only referring to the body flicker and kunai substitution. Not raw natural speed. Anyway I skipped Shika's match because it was mostly canon, just Shika had to come up with some extra tricks. And I didn't really want to write that match for some reason. And for anyone wondering why Sasuke's fight went so quick, I was trying to write it as if Sasuke was rushing himself, because he really only wanted to fight Naruto. In his excitement he also kind of forgot he was up against a jinchuriki. Also Denkosekka means "A flash of lightning amidst the falling snow" which I thought would be a sweet name, bonus points if anyone figured out exactly where it came from. It's been used in Naruto stuff before that wasn't FanFiction. Anyway I'm out! See ya!**_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven **

_**Heyo sorry for the wait, but here it is, hope you like it. I tried my best to edit it well.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, more people would have seen Naruto summon Gamabunta.**_

* * *

All hell had broken loose the minute Gaara ripped through the stadium wall. An explosion had gone off in the Kage box, and the stadium had filled with Oto and Suna nin. The shinobi of Konoha had immediately sprang into action, fighting against the nin, and releasing those caught in the genjutsu so they could evacuate.

Jiraiya and Hiruzen stared down the Kazekage. "Drop the act. We already know it's you, Orochimaru." The white haired Sannin said.

"Jiraiya, Sarutobi-sensei. It's so good to see you both!"

"I'm going to fix the mistake I made years ago, and stop you from touching Konoha ever again, Orochimaru…" Said the Hokage, The last word spoken with extreme distaste. A massive purple barrier appeared around the rooftop.

"Seems my nin have made themselves useful and things went according to plan." The traitorous Sannin flashed through hand seals, and called out his jutsu. "Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation"

"What! No way!"

Three coffins burst from the ground, the third however shook before it returned to the ground.

"At least the Death God is on our side in this matter it seems, eh? Sarutobi-sensei?"

"Indeed it does Jiraiya, he would never so willingly just let go of young Minato's soul." Replied the elder shinobi.

"Saru?" Questioned Hashirama looking upon the Third Hokage.

"It seems my jutsu was used to bring us back from the dead brother." Said Tobirama, quickly recognizing the situation.

"Only you could make such jutsu that are stupidly reckless, Tobirama!"

"Fight for me, Hokages." Orochimaru called out as he jumped forward and slammed a kunai with a control talisman into the necks of both Hokage.

"Ah Saru, it seems we no longer have control of our bodies." Said the Second Hokage. He flew forward immediately being countered by Sarutobi. The current Hokage threw the Second at Jiraiya, who proceeded to put a rasengan through the his chest. Hashirama immediately engaged Sarutobi in a bout of taijutsu, and the monkey summoner took the upper hand at the last moment. Thus began a massive battle that the Anbu who had collected outside the barrier had never seen the likes of before.

* * *

Sakura and Rikka stood back to back fending off Oto and Suna nin, they were being pushed to the limit and if nothing changed they would die. That was until a flash of blue light and the sound of chirping birds ripped through the air and Kakashi tore through the nin surrounding the girls.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Called the pinkette. Another leaf jounin landed next to Kakashi.

"Thanks for saving my student as well Hatake."

"You know I protect my comrades, Yuta." Kakashi eye smiled at the black haired jounin.

"Alright let's wipe the floor with these shits!" The newly arrived jounin shouted.

* * *

"Naruto!"

"Got it!"

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

"Fire Style: Fireball jutsu!"

The boys were firing off jutsu in an effort to push the enemy jinchuriki away from the village.

"I'm going to kill you, Uchiha! I'll feed you to mother!"

Gaara continued to run, but Naruto and Sasuke were forced to stop. The figures of Temari and Kankuro appeared in between them and their target.

"Temari, continue on with Gaara. I'll handle this."

"But-"

"Shut up and go Temari!"

Naruto and Sasuke had a stare down with the puppet user. They knew they couldn't just run by him. But their problems were solved by a separate Konoha shinobi. Bugs swarmed around the three ninja as the Aburame made his entrance.

"You two go, I never got my match, so I'll have it now instead." Said the stoic bug user.

"Right!" The two boys sounded off.

"I won't let you past me!" Yelled Kankuro, who moved to intercept, but was halted by a wall of bugs courtesy of Shino.

Temari watched as Gaara began his transformation.

"Where's the Uchiha! I want his blood!"

"Gaara you can't forget the plan!"

"I don't care about the plan! I want to prove my existence! Shut up, or I'll kill you Temari!" Gaara said, the beast slowly fighting to take the boy over, almost half his body was consumed by the One Tail's smaller form. At this moment Sasuke and Naruto decided to drop in. The Uchiha took half of Gaara's transformed arm off with his Chidori.

Gaara's focus immediately shifted to the black haired genin. However as he moved to attack, he felt a speed enhanced powerful kick place itself in the small of his back, launching him away. Gaara growled. "Sand shuriken!" He yelled as his sand turned into deadly weapons that flew at the two shinobi. Temari had long since pulled back to the minimum safe distance.

The boys began spamming their combination jutsu, trying to turn the sand into glass. And it did work, but when the jinchuriki began ripping apart the ground in order to make more, they knew this would be troublesome. Eventually Naruto had a plan.

"S'ke I'm gonna spam some water clones up, I'll prep a couple extra water jutsu too, get your Chidori ready!"

"Got it." Forty Naruto copies filled the area. Five of them began flashing through hand seals. "Water Style: Raging Waves!" They all exclaimed, shooting water all over the partially transformed Suna nin, but dispelling the clones that had used the jutsu as it had drained their chakra. The remaining clones began to attack Gaara, engaging in taijutsu but getting dispatched as they attacked.

Naruto body flickered beside Sasuke putting his hand on the Uchiha's shoulder. "I'll get you close." The boy nodded in response and they disappeared with the blond's technique. Reappearing behind the Suna nin, Sasuke charged forth from behind him.

"Chidori!" A burst of sand threw him off, but he still managed to bury his arm in the shoulder of the beast side of the enemy nin. "Shit!" He yelled when the sand began to encase his arm. However the water that was now covering the redhead amplified the electric shock of the Chidori causing him immense pain. Naruto quickly flickered next to him, and immediately disappeared with Sasuke in tow.

"That was too close, Sasuke."

"I know, but it doesn't matter right now."

"Ninja Art: Play Possum Jutsu!" They heard the redhead call out, and watched in confusion as the boy slumped over, apparently asleep. But they both recoiled in shock as the full form of the One Tails filled their view. Towering over them, the massive beast began to laugh.

"**I'm finally free!" **The massive beast chuckled once again.

"Fuck, Sasuke. Go! Get out of here!"

"What the fuck do you mean!? You can't possibly think you're gonna fight that thing alone Naruto!"

Naruto turned to Sasuke, a solemn look adorning his face. He chuckled lightly. "You're a lot different than you used to be Sasuke. It's a change for the good. But this...this is a fight for jinchuriki, and that's what I am. I'll do this for the village."

"Naruto! I'm not gonna leave you here you loser."

"Neko! Glad you're here, please clear the area."

The newly arrived ANBU stared at the boy for a moment before she nodded and forcefully grabbed Sasuke and leapt away. She arrived at a location a distance away from the now free tailed beast. Gathered there, were a good amount of chunin and genin, along with a few jounin. The rest of the Konoha nin were still fighting in the village, but this group had been sent by Kakashi to backup the two boys. But upon release of the One Tails, a squad of ANBU had arrived giving orders for no one to engage.

"What the hell! We can't leave Naruto there to fight alone!"

Sakura, with Rikka and Ryuko in tow came running up to the ANBU. Shikamaru and Kiba found their way over quickly as well, having heard Sasuke yelling.

"Naruto's is fighting that thing alone!?" Sakura shouted worry in her voice.

"Right now, Naruto is the only one capable of fighting that beast. At least until Lord Jiraiya and Lord Third Hokage finish their fight." The ANBU responded blankly. "Know your place genin. Stay put. That is an order."

"How can you possibly say that when Naruto is a gen-.." Shikamaru started, only to be interrupted by the massive figure of Gamabunta appearing on the battlefield. When all the nin looked closely, some having fought in the battle thirteen years before, they saw the massive toad along with a cloaked figure upon its head facing off against the beast.

"Is-is that the Fourth!?" A chunin shouted.

"You should know that isn't possible." Neko replied.

"Just look at the cloak, you can tell. That's the same one Naruto was wearing." Shikamaru commented.

* * *

"Sorry to summon you for such a fight, Lord Gamabunta. But I didn't have much of a choice."

"**Tch. It's fine brat, last time I was summoned for a fight like this, it was your Fourth Hokage atop my head."**

Naruto smiled at the toad boss's words. "I need to wake the jinchuriki that is hidden inside the head of the One Tails. Any ideas?"

"**We'll have to blast the sand loose to expose his body, then you should be able to get a solid enough hit in on him to wake him up."**

"Got it. Know any water jutsu?" Naruto asked his massive ally.

"**I'm a toad idiot, of course I know water jutsu."**

"Right sorry Chief. Alright light him up with what you got and I'll do what I can to add to it."

"**Water Style: Liquid Bullets!" **The massive toad shot multiple bullets of water at the beast, on the ground the water became a rainstorm.

"_Kakashi-sensei said if I were to pump enough chakra into this, it has potential to go from a C-rank jutsu to an A-rank." _Naruto quickly shot through the hand seals. "Water Style: Raging Waves!" Naruto and Gamabunta's water jutsu combined, slamming into the Tailed beast with so much force it ripped away some of the sand on its head, exposing Gaara's body.

"**Alright brat! We're going to need to do a combination Transformation Jutsu! I need something with teeth and claws so I can grab him!"**

"Got it Chief Toad. One Nine Tailed Fox coming right up!"

Naruto and Gamabunta focused their chakra together, blending it and surrounding the toads body.

"**Transformation Jutsu!"**

"Transformation Jutsu!"

A plume of smoke enveloped the area, and out of it sprinted the Nine Tailed Fox. The two beasts tangled and clawed at each other for a few minutes before the transformed toad finally managed to pin the damn Racoon down.

"**Go kid!"**

"Right!" Naruto yelled as he flickered into existence next to Gaara atop the beast's head. "Wake up fucker!" He called slamming his fist into the other boy's head.

"**I just got here! I don't wanna go already!" **The beast yelled as Gaara's mind took over once again. Noticing the beast's body hadn't dissipated yet, Naruto grabbed the boy by the shirt and put two quick punches into his face. The body of the beast cracked and crumbled as it fell to the ground.

"You can go home now, Lord Gamabunta. I'll take it from here." Naruto called to his summon, as he jumped down to a treetop.

"**Got it. Good luck kid." **The massive summon disappeared in a cloud of chakra. Gaara landed in a tree across from Naruto, and leveled a glare at the blond. When the toad boss' sword popped out of existence, Gaara and Naruto launched at each other. Naruto quickly took the advantage and he connected a right hook to the Suna nin's face, sending the boy to the ground. The blond quickly flickered down behind him. He stood over the crumpled nin's body, the redhead's eyes stared at him in fear.

"How, how can you be so strong!?" Gaara began slowly crawling back as Naruto approached.

"Because, there's people I love in that village, hell I even love the village itself." The blond continued to walk toward the fallen jinchuriki. "We didn't talk much during our fight. But we didn't have to. I could see it in your eyes, and I could feel it in how you fought." He now stood over the Suna jinchuriki, a sad smile adorning his face.

"No! Stay away! Get away from me! I won't let you end my existence!" The terrified redhead screamed.

Naruto crouched down in front of the boy and placed his hand on the nin's shoulder. "It's almost unbearable isn't it? That loneliness and pain. The crushing weight of it all bearing down on you. It's so much it's suffocating. Looking at you Gaara, I see what I could have been, had I not found the ones who accept me as me. I know what it's like to be a jinchuriki, I hold the Nine Tails after all. But Gaara, your siblings, I can tell they love you. Cultivate that love and become strong with them. And if you need a friend, well we jinchuriki need to stick together y'know!"

The figures of Kankuro and Temari dropped from the trees behind them. "Get away from Gaara you bastard!"

Gaara stared at Naruto wide eyed at his words, and even more so at the concern showed on his siblings faces. "Temari…... Kankuro…... That's enough this fights over."

Naruto smiled at the redhead, when suddenly his eyes shot wide. "_The old man's chakra! It's so small it's like he's….NO! No way." _Naruto was almost in a panic but he put on a brave face. "You three get out of here, more Konoha nin are coming. You need to get a move on."

As Kankuro picked up Gaara he looked at the blond shinobi in awe. Not only had this guy _beat_ Gaara, he had done it in a way that hadn't left him on the floor with nothing left. The damn kid looked like he could take on a couple more shinobi before dropping. "Uh thanks I guess, we'll be off." With that the sand nin took off into the trees.

"Kankuro….Temari…..I'm sorry." The redhead groaned out.

"Uh don't worry about it." The catsuit boy replied.

* * *

Of the nin who appeared in the small clearing to meet Naruto, a few had expected to find a scene like they had when the Third Hokage had found Minato after the Ninetails attack. They hadn't expected to find a tired but definitely not down and out Uzumaki Naruto standing there like he _hadn't _just single handedly dealt with a tailed beast.

"I subdued the One Tails. But the nin escaped." He said calmly.

"Naruto are you ok!?" Shouted Ryuko and Sakura.

"I'm fine, but look I have to go." He disappeared heading back to the village.

The group of shinobi watched in slight awe. They all began to look at each other in disbelief, before the ANBU in the group ordered them all back to the village to deal with any remaining threats.

Naruto meanwhile arrived just in time to see Orochimaru flee the rooftop of the Kage box. Quickly he rushed into where the barrier had previously protected. He quickly found the Hokage's chakra and slid to a stop at the dying man's body. "Old Man!"

The old Sarutobi chuckled, realizing just _who _had managed to make it to him first. "Naruto." He coughed lightly, blood coming out.

"Old man hang on! There will be medics here soon, you'll be alright!"

"Naruto….I cannot be saved. I will die here, so you must listen."

"No! Old Man! You can't die alright! You're the Hokage for fucks sake. You can't die!"

"Naruto." Sarutobi said again, commanding as he felt Jiraiya land next to the two of them. "Listen boy. You've come far as a shinobi. One day it will be your turn to be Hokage, of that I have no doubt. The Will of Fire is strong within you my boy, as it was with your mother. Be strong Naruto. You've made me, your mother, and Konoha proud. I hereby promote you to chunin, for your feat of removing the threat of the One Tail, Shukaku from the village."

Naruto cried over the old Hokage as the man coughed some more. "Naruto, one day when you are Hokage, there's something I'd like you to remember…." He coughed up some more blood, and looked at the end of his life.

"Anything Old Man…" Naruto said biting back tears.

"When the tree leaves dance….one shall find flames. The fire's shadow will illuminate the village, and once again…. tree leaves shall bud anew…. as Hokage, you must remember this, and never let go, of your Will of Fire…." With those last words, Sarutobi Hiruzen coughed once more, ruffled the hair of the boy who had brought light into his world for many years, and promptly died.

* * *

The funeral only served to make Naruto more depressed, as he watch from atop the Third Hokage's stone head. He cried silent tears, thinking of the many times the man, who had acted almost as Naruto's grandfather, had taken him for ramen. He looked to the sky as it began to rain, as if even the gods wept over the death of the God of Shinobi. "_The fire's shadow will illuminate the village…...huh."_

He felt Jiraiya land next to him, but he didn't bother to say anything. "So I made sure to let the jounin commander, along with the council know of your promotion to chunin."

"Thanks."

"Naruto….in this world, a lot of people you know will die. One day I would like to find true peace. To have a world where everyone understands each other. But…."

"But Konohagakure comes first. I too would like to see your dream come true, Jiraiya-sensei. However, Konoha must always be first in my mind. Because this is the village full of my friends, and the people I love. This is the village the old man, and my mother gave their _lives_ to protect. I can never let that go to waste. I must ensure the safety of Konohagakure, no matter what."

"Well said my little apprentice. Now we've got a mission."

"A mission, Jiraiya-sensei?"

"Yup. You see, Konohagakure needs a new Hokage. They asked me to, but I can't be Hokage. So we need to go find my old teammate Tsunade." Naruto leapt back from the Sannin landing a few feet away, anger consuming his facial features.

"What the fuck! The old man _just_ died! How the fuck can you just _replace _him like that!" Naruto growled out at the toad Sannin.

The older man looked at the boy sadly. "Naruto… Sarutobi-sensei meant a lot to me too, however Konohagakure is weak right now. We can't afford that, first off because we are going to go to war with Otogakure. Suna has already re-entered a treaty with us because they were tricked by Orochimaru. If we don't get a new Hokage soon, and show the other nations we aren't weak, it could spark the Fourth world war."

Naruto reigned in his emotions and settled himself. "Yes sensei...I understand. I'm ready to leave whenever you are."

"You don't wanna say goodbye to your friends first?"

"Right now I just want to get out of this village sensei."

"That's fair. Go pack and meet me at the North gate in two hours."

"Yes sensei." With that both shinobi flickered off. The Hokage monument was silent once again.

* * *

Two days later, some of the Konoha genin teams met up around a barbecue joint. "Shikamaru, you're a chunin now, so do you know what happened to Naruto?" Asked Sakura.

"It's a drag to go off rumors and such, but I heard he showed up before the Hokage died. And that he was promoted to chunin by Lord Third before he passed." The Nara sighed. "If I guessed he's on a mission."

"Why would they give Naruto a separate mission without his team though?" Ino inquired.

"Because," a stoic voice interrupted. "In the same way I trained under Kakashi for the finals, Naruto trained under Jiraiya of the Sannin. If I guessed, I'd say Jiraiya had something important to do, and decided to take Naruto along."

"Sasuke, you don't really think Naruto is on a mission with a Sannin do you?" Kiba popped in this time.

"Yes, I really do think so. I'm off on a mission with Kakashi and Sakura to do border patrol. We're all about to get very busy."

"Are we really going to war with Oto?" Asked one of the twins Naruto had met in the forest. Team Twelve, consisting of Takarada Ryuko, Kasahara Roku, and Kasahara Aiko, had run into the rest of the genin as they were heading through the village. Sakura had promptly invited them along for a meal, which they had graciously accepted.

"Yeah the war with Oto is on. The only thing is it's going to be easy for Konoha and Suna at first. We'll be able to crush most of Otogakure, but the problem will be it's almost a guarantee that Orochimaru will resort to hit and run guerrilla tactics." Shikamaru drawled out.

"Hn. Sakura, come on it's time for our mission with Kakashi."

* * *

"Hey Jiraiya-sensei?"

"What's up brat?"

"Can you teach me something on the way?"

Jiraiya laughed loudly. Looking over, he smiled at the boy. "I've been planning to teach you a jutsu, actually I've been planning to teach you two of them. One needed permission of the Hokage, but I never got the chance to ask. But I'm going to teach you anyway."

"You're going to teach me two?"

"Well depending if you get the first one down fast enough."

"Alright what is it?"

"Pay attention brat. This is the Shadow Clone Jutsu." Jiraiya made the hand seal and a clone popped into existence next to him. "It's a jutsu that splits the users chakra to make the clone. The difference between this and the standard clone, is this clone is solid, and is also able to perform jutsu. I want you to try now Naruto."

"Alright here I go." Naruto said calmly forming the clone seal. He focused his chakra and closed his eyes. Hearing a pop he opened them and looked to his right. Staring back at him was a perfect copy of himself. "Whoa."

"Naruto most jounin can only make one or two. But with your chakra levels, we have a huge opportunity. I'm going to teach you a forbidden jutsu that would kill anyone but you."

"Are you sure I should learn it sensei?" The boy asked nervously.

"I'm sure. Now do the same seal. But push as much of your chakra out as you can. They call it the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu."

"Got it." The boy said, determination filling his eyes. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A loud popping sound filled the air, and surrounding Jiraiya and the boy were copies in the hundreds.

"Woah! This is impressive! It's perfect! Naruto I'm gonna make you strong! Now in groups dispel the clones until you have like ten left." The older man ordered.

"Alright." Naruto smiled at his sensei. They were now left with ten copies of himself.

"My clone is going to take one of yours off into the trees for a minute Alright?"

"Ok..?" Naruto said questioningly. The two clones scampered off, only for Naruto to look at his sensei in slight awe. And then his expression changed to disappointment. "Alright awesome I get the memories, but really? You're a super pervert? That was the best thing you could say?" At this, the Sannin just chuckled loudly.

"Naruto… with this technique, we can get you to learn and master jutsu in days, rather than years." Jiraiya smiled down at the boy. "However before that I plan to teach you a jutsu, but you can only use one clone during training. And any time you train anything else with large amounts of clones, I _need _to be there, and you need to be careful and dispel the clones in small groups so that the mass amount of memories flooding your brain doesn't scramble it. Understood?"

"Yes I understand sensei." Naruto replied. "So what's the next one?"

"This one I can guarantee, will take you longer. After all it took the Fourth Hokage three years to develop, and it took me three months to learn."

"The Fourth Hokage made it!?"

"That he did." Jiraiya held his arm out and began to form a ball of chakra in his hand. "This, is the Rasengan." He laughed at the absolute awe prevalent on the boy's face. "It's the absolute pinnacle of shape manipulation."

"Jiraiya-sensei...how do I learn this!?" At this he was hit in the face with a water balloon.

"Catch." The Sannin called tossing another at the boy, who caught it effortlessly. "Now watch." The balloon began to shake and become bumpy, before it popped. "The first step is rotation. Now get to work."

"Yes sir!"

* * *

It was early evening as Naruto and Jiraiya arrived in the small village. The boy was extremely tired from the constant training he did along the way. Jiraiya checked the two of them into a hotel. After they had settled he turned to the boy. "I'm going to the bar, I'm gonna see if I can dig anything up on Tsunade alright? You stay here in the room. Train if you'd like, or sleep you look tired. I'll be back brat."

"Alright see ya in a bit Jiraiya-sensei."

With that Jiraiya left the building, Naruto shut and locked the door behind him. He spawned ten shadow clones and they sat about the room reading through books and scrolls on fuinjutsu. He had inquired to his sensei about the art of sealing, and it had almost excited the Sage that the boy had interest in it. Naruto himself sat cross legged, working on the rotation step of the rasengan.

Naruto was jolted from his concentration, when he heard a knock at the door. He stood and walked over, he didn't even think twice about opening it.

"You're going to come with us, Uzumaki Naruto."

* * *

_**Knock knock who's there? Anyway that's all for now, more updates Monday most likely, but maybe even earlier! It depends on how much time I can devote to writing. Anyways see ya, Darling in the Fox out!**_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve **

_**Heyo! Twelve is here. Hope ya like it. Leave any feedback on a review, I like to know that y'all are enjoying it. It really helps me stay motivated to keep at this.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, Sasuke wouldn't be so wack.**_

* * *

"You're going to come with us, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto stared at the man, bewildered. "_Sasuke? No...who is he? He has the same Sharingan….wait! Uchiha Itachi! Fuck, Jiraiya-sensei where are you!" _The man beside the criminal Uchiha made himself known. Naruto took in the man's shark like features.

"Itachi… it'll be a pain if this kid moves around. Maybe I should chop off a leg just in case." The shark man reached back and grabbed the hilt of his sword. "Now then…." He began approaching the young blond, intent to do harm evident in his eyes.

"Long time no see, Sasuke." Came the stoic voice of Itachi, as he acknowledged the arrival of his younger brother. Naruto's eyes widened, immediately he flickered to the side of his best friend.

"S'ke I'm pretty sure I know why you're here. But we gotta stay calm and think this through. The man beside your brother is Hoshigaki Kisame. Meaning the two shinobi we are facing…..are both S-Rank."

"I know."

"Mind if I help you kill your brother?"

"I've always intended on having you help anyway idiot. Combo five."

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

The massive roaring inferno tore through the hallway, ripping apart the building and burning the floor, walls, and ceiling to a crisp. Only for the blaze to disappear in a cloud of steam as it hit the nin.

"Nice try, but my water jutsu are second to none.." The blue skinned nin laughed aloud as if he hadn't just stared at what might as well have been the heat of the sun itself.

"Damnit! Itachi! You'll die by my hand!"

"Sasuke. Stay calm we can't rush in." Naruto attempted to placate the angered Uchiha.

"Hn." Sasuke growled through gritted teeth

"You're both weak." Started the elder Uchiha. "Neither of you have enough hatred or power to stand against us."

A massive cloud of smoke suddenly enveloped the hallway. As the smoke cleared, a man standing beside a toad with armor and a sword could be seen. "I'm sure you've heard of me, Itachi. Must be why you sent a woman after me, but unfortunately for you, women fall before the sex appeal of Jiraiya the Gallant!"

The large man motioned to Naruto, who quickly grabbed the youngest Uchiha's shoulder and flickered them both beside the toad sage.

"You shouldn't call yourself a man, using such cowardly tactics. But that's not what matters. Your target…..is Naruto after all." The blond's eyes went wide at this revelation. So they really were after him, presumably for the beast sealed within him.

"That's right...the collection of the nine beasts is the number one goal of our organization." Confirmed the clan slayer.

"Akatsuki…." The Sage said solemnly. "The two of you will not leave here alive."

"No! I have to be the one to kill him!" Yelled Sasuke.

"Boy! Stay out of this!" Jiraiya's presence switched from that of a friendly kind person, to that of cold hardened shinobi.

"Sasuke. I get you want this right now. But these two, and Jiraiya-sensei are in a whole different league."

The black haired boy growled, and slammed his fist into the wall. "Damnit Naruto! I know that!"

"Good! Then settle down!"

"Ninja Art: Toad Mouth Trap!" The hallway was suddenly engulfed in the fleshy substance of a toad's stomach. "Sasuke! Naruto! Stay still!" Kisame's eyes moved to his sword, seeing the flesh beginning to engulf it, he ripped it away, and slipped back toward Itachi. The two criminals bounded down the hallway away from the Sannin, the fleshy walls closing in on them. Itachi's eye opened wide and the black flames of the Amaterasu ripped through the wall. The two nin leapt through the hole, fire sealing their escape.

Naruto an Sasuke bounded after them fixing to jump through the fire. "Stop!" The Sannin's commanding voice stopped them cold. "Don't get any closer. The black flames cannot be put out." Jiraiya approached, pulling his scroll from his back. "I'll seal it away."

"Ah! Jiraiya-sensei! Can I do it? I think I've got the fire sealing down."

"Hmm. Be my guest." Jiraiya tossed a small blank scroll with ink and a brush to the boy. "Let's see if you can draw the seal properly."

Naruto crouched before the fire, quickly getting to work. His calligraphy had always been perfect, one of the few things Iruka had praised him on before his training had truly begun. Naruto looked at his sensei after finishing the seal, waiting for the confirmation. Jiraiya inspected it closely, before nodding at the blond. The boy smiled at his sensei before bringing his hands together and forming a few hand seals. "Sealing Technique: Fire Seal!" The black flames turned to a cloud of chakra that was sucked to the sealing scroll. Kanji for seal burning into the circular space left for it on the scroll.

"What are we waiting for!? We have to pursue them!" Sasuke yelled at the two.

"Boy, my student and I are on an important mission for the village that we cannot abandon. And I'm sure you saw for yourself you are not yet strong enough. Grow alongside your comrades and one day you will be able to end the life of your traitorous brother."

Sasuke stared at the Sannin with anger on his face, before breathing deeply and settling himself. "I- yes Lord Jiraiya, my apologies."

"It's alright kid. Now run on back to Konoha and report these happenings to Nara Shikaku."

"Yes sir. Later, Naruto." And with that the young Uchiha left.

* * *

Later that night, Naruto sat in a new hotel room with his sensei. They were eating a small meal of ramen when Naruto set his bowl on the table and looked at the man. "Sensei...why is this, Akatsuki after me? I'd assume it's for the Nine Tails?"

Jiraiya sighed setting his bowl down as well. "Yes. The Akatsuki is an organization of S-Rank missing nin, who intend to capture all nine tailed beasts, for purposes still unknown to me."

"I see."

"That's why you're going to need to get stronger Naruto. But worry not, I will see to it that you grow as a shinobi. Once the war with Otogakure has settled a bit, I intend to take you on a training trip."

"I look forward to it sensei."

* * *

A few days later found the boy and his sensei in Tanzaku Quarters, a fairly famed gambling town. At this point Naruto was well into the final step of the rasengan, containment. He was having some trouble with it, but he felt he was making progress. However where he was beginning to excel in bounds, was with fuinjutsu. His clones had been reading through all the material Jiraiya could possibly provide the boy. He was quickly advancing his skill in the art.

"Alright brat well let's have a look around and see if we can find anything-"

"Hey! Did you hear!? A giant snake destroyed the castle!"

The student and teacher overheard the conversation of a few civilians. Jiraiya looked down at the boy, who nodded back at him and the two lept off in the direction of where the castle was supposed to be. Upon arrival, they found a destroyed castle, but no one in sight.

The toad Sannin sighed. "Well whatever let's go grab dinner and begin searching tomorrow."

"Alrighty Jiraiya-sensei, lead the way." Replied the student as he once again buried his head in a book on seals. As the two arrived at a local bar the older male was stopped in his tracks as they entered.

"Well now, I didn't expect to just randomly run into you like this, Tsunade."

"Jiraiya!?"

After a bit of talking, the boy and his sensei found themselves sitting with Tsunade and her student, eating their dinner.

"_It's hard to believe this lady is fifty years old." _Naruto sweat dropped.

"So what do you want from me?" Tsunade asked pulling a deck of cards from her shirt, dealing between her and Jiraiya.

"Tsunade, the village demands you come back and become the Fifth Hokage." The Sage said straight faced and serious. The look of shock upon Tsunade and Shizune's faces were enough to show that was the last thing they had been expecting. "Do you know about Sarutobi-sensei?"

"Orochimaru did it right? I heard about it. Directly from him."

"Are you sure this lady is fit for the position of Hokage, Jiraiya-Sensei?"

"Pffft who's this brat, Jiraiya?"

"He's Uzumaki Naruto."

Tsunade stared at the boy a moment. "_This is Minato and Kushina's brat huh? The jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox."_

"I'll say it again. The village demands you return, and take the mantle of Fifth Hokage. So what is your answer, will you accept?"

The woman threw her cards down on the table. "Impossible…I refuse."

Jiraiya chuckled and then smiled. "You said those same words when I asked you to go out with me."

"How can you refuse to be _Hokage._ It's an honor to serve the village as Hokage, how can you just refuse it!" Naruto growled out.

"Unlike your last apprentice, this brats a little hot headed. Seems pretty damn stupid too." She dealt out another hand of cards between the two of them.

"Well you'd be surprised, just how much like the Fourth Hokage this boy really is. I'd say he's picked up fuinjutsu almost as fast, if not faster than Minato."

"But even the Fourth died early. Sacrificing his life for the village….pffft. Life is different from money…. to easy to risk it and lose it, it's a fools doing!" She smirked at Jiraiya. "Both my Grandfather, and my Granduncle, the Second Hokage seemed to want to protect the village above all else. But after all they died in vain, in the midst of their dreams for the village."

"You've changed Tsunade… I don't know what you had in your heart before, but to say such a thing aloud…."

"The same goes for Sarutobi-Sensei… no wonder he died showing off at such an old age." Jiraiya leveled a glare at his old teammate, and subtly noticed Naruto's increasing anger.

Tsunade noticed the boy's anger too, she let out a laugh in response, and set her cards down. "To be Hokage is a death sentence. No one but an idealistic fool would take the hat."

Naruto audibly growled, his clenching hand snapping through a chunk of the table. He took a deep breath, before leveling his glare at the woman. "I don't fucking care who you are. If you dare to make fun of Lord Fourth Hokage, and Lord Third Hokage again, it won't matter if you're a lady or not. I'll destroy you." Naruto smashed his fist into his palm, cracking his knuckles and grinding his teeth.

Tsunade let out a laugh. "You're pretty gutsy, confronting me like this. Let's take this outside, _brat._"

"Fine with me, _hag._" At this Tsunade grew a tick mark on her forehead, face contorting in anger.

Meeting outside, the Sannin and their respective students stood across from each other.

"Though it may not look like it, I am one of the Sannin. Why should I even take some lowly Chunin seriously?"

Naruto retorted with a focused glare leveled at the woman. "One finger. It's all I'll need to take you down."

"Watch your tone lady." Naruto appeared before the blond bombshell, already in a handstand and swinging both legs around to deliver a massive kick, which she deflected with a flick. Sending the chunin flying back. "_Damnit. I'm letting my anger get the best of me. This is a Sannin. I need to chill out and think."_

"I'll ask you one thing before I knock you out cold. Why do you get so passionate at the mention of the title of Hokage?"

"Unlike you…" The boy growled out. "I'll be the heir to the title of Hokage, no matter what. Because it is my dream, to be Hokage." He smirked at the older blond. Tsunade couldn't help but be reminded of Dan and Nawaki at this statement. "_Shit..her guard dropped. I can't get her head on, but I think I might have the rasengan under control. I know I can get close in a flash."_

Jiraiya could see the cogs turning in his student's head. "_I'd bet money he's going to try catching her with his substitution. God he's so much like Minato." _It took quite a bit of restraint for him to hold back his hearty chuckle at the thought.

Naruto whipped three kunai into his hand and hurled them at the female Sannin. Two impacted at her feet, the third heading straight for her head. She promptly shifted her head to the side so it could slide right past her. Only for her eyes to widen as the boy disappeared, a kunai taking his place.

She was treated with a noise she had only heard when Jiraiya had shown her the jutsu after he had first learned it from his student. She spun around to see the blue orb of chakra rushing at her in between the boy's two hands. She moved to flick him away only to launch away a kunai with her finger. It was almost comical, the look that appeared on her face as she heard the noise, once again behind her.

She was _forced_ to jump away to avoid the impact of the jutsu, that then blasted the boy back down the street, only for him to be caught by Jiraiya. "_That jutsu…" _she looked upon the damage it had cause to the street. "_It's not yet mastered, but dammit if the boy isn't close."_

She looked to the boy who was being set down on his feet by his sensei. "Jiraiya! Was it you who taught this boy the Rasengan?"

"I am his teacher."

"Showing someone a jutsu that he cannot master? Don't give him false hope. That's why the moony kid starts joking about becoming Hokage."

"Oi. I'm not kidding. I will be Hokage one day. I'll have the Rasengan mastered in three days."

She smiled. "How about a bet then?"

"A bet?" The boy questioned.

"I'll give you one week, if you can master that jutsu, I'll acknowledge that you have what it takes to become Hokage. And I'll give you this necklace, however you lose if you can't do it in a week. And my prize will be you give me all the money you have, and you give up on that stupid dream of yours."

"I don't need your necklace, and I don't need a week. I'll have it down in three days."

"Oi, Naruto don't say such things. That necklace belonged to the First Hokage, you could buy three mountains with it." Jiraiya scolded.

Shizune chose this moment to voice her concerns. "Lady Tsunade! You can't bet away your Grandfather's necklace!"

"Pfft, it's not like he'll win." The elder blond turned to the boy. "Take the damn week boy. Don't mess with your odds."

"Fine. Let's go Sensei, see ya in a week Tsunade."

* * *

Five days later, and unbeknownst to the female Sannin. The boy had technically already mastered the rasengan, the shadow clone "cheat" he had come up with had sealed the deal for him. But Jiraiya insisted that the boy not stop there. "Learn it _one handed _Naruto. It's much more useful like that. I'll find another jutsu to teach you once you do."

"Alright got it Sensei! One one handed Rasengan coming up!"

"That's the spirit brat."

* * *

Two days later, Naruto had one handed mastery over the Rasengan, however he had exhausted himself over the last day, and was now sleeping in his hotel room.

Meanwhile, the toad Sage was headed for the bar.

As he stepped in, he found his childhood crush drinking away at the counter. "Ah Tsunade."

"Jiraiya."

"So...what _exactly _did you and Orochimaru talk about?"

"He asked me to heal his arms. He said he would bring _them _back if I did."

"Ah. And? Did you believe him?"

"I don't know." While Jiraiya closed his eyes to think of what to say next, Tsunade slipped a drug into his drink.

"Tsunade….if you go through with this deal with Orochimaru...I won't hesitate to kill you as a traitor to Konohagakure. Do you understand?"

The woman stared at him wide eyed at this statement but looked to the floor as Jiraiya suddenly passed out.

She sighed loudly, before heading off to the hotel to check the boy's progress. Arriving there she walked into the room to find Naruto still passed out. "_What an idiot I was to think he might pull it off"_

"Lady Tsunade, where's Jiraiya? Wait! Don't tell me you-. You don't intend to help Orochimaru do you?! If you do I swear Lady Tsunade I'll kill myself to stop you!"

"Shizune…" Tsunade quickly knocks the girl unconscious leaving her in the room with Naruto before heading to meet Orochimaru.

* * *

"Shizune! Wake up! What happened!?"

She awoke to the sight of Naruto crouched over her, shaking her shoulders. "Lady Tsunade!" She shouted sitting up. "I'm sorry Naruto I have to go!"

"Wait what's going on!?"

"Stop Shizune." Came the strong voice of the Toad Sage. "That damned woman. She drugged my drink. My chakra control is messed up and I can't move properly." The man sighed loudly. "Do you know where they were supposed to meet Shizune?"

"Yes Master Jiraiya. Come with me!" With that the two males took off following the young woman.

* * *

"Well at least you haven't betrayed Konoha, Tsunade." Jiraiya said, as he, Naruto, and Shizune arrived on the scene. Standing between the elder female, and Kabuto.

"Out of my way Jiraiya! I'm going to kill this brat." Tsunade said, pushing the man to the ground and charging at Kabuto. The man smirked, and slit his wrist, the blood splattering across Tsunade. The woman crumpled into a catatonic sloppy mess, shaking uncontrollably, and unable to move.

"Lady Tsunade!" Cried our Shizune in worry.

"You son of a bitch! I knew something was off about you! You fucking traitor!" Naruto yelled at the man in glasses.

"Oh Naruto, how could I be a traitor if I was never loyal in the first place." The blond only growled in response.

"Shizune, Naruto. Handle him. I'll deal with Orochimaru." Ordered Jiraiya.

"Kabuto!" The snake Sannin yelled, summoning his subordinate to his side. "Do it." The man rolled up the snake Sannin's sleeve wiping blood across a summoning tattoo. A massive snake appeared in a cloud of smoke. The two shinobi standing upon its head.

Jiraiya quickly move through hand seals as well, performing the summoning jutsu as he had many times before. Only to be met with the face of the Chief toad's son, Gamakichi. "Hiya!"

"Naruto!" Yelled Jiraiya, and the boy quickly flickered to his side already beginning the hand seals for the jutsu.

"Summoning Jutsu!" The two Konoha shinobi appeared atop the head of Gamabunta. "Hey Lord Gamabunta! I've summoned you so you can make that snake skin wallet you always wanted!" Shouted the boy to the massive toad.

Orochimaru stared on in awe. "Kabuto go handle Tsunade and her apprentice."

"Yes sir"

"_To think the boy would be capable of summoning Gamabunta in one go with no trouble is almost beyond me. I should have guessed, he is Minato's child after all." _The snake Sannin thought to himself.

"Naruto stop him." The white haired man ordered.

"Yes sensei!" Leaping down, the boy moved to intercept Kabuto. Shizune immediately engaged the man, firing away at him with sebon.

"Ninja Art: Poison Fog!" Called out the black haired woman, a cloud of fog filling the air between her and Kabuto. He suddenly burst from the ground below her smashing her face first into the dirt. She stood again, blocking him from having access to Tsunade. As he moved to remove Shizune from the battle, intent on killing her, he was stopped by a hail of kunai landing between them.

"Back off bastard." Naruto said, calmly approaching. "I'll kill you here if you don't."

Kabuto laughed at the boy. "Naruto...you can't stand against me. I'm on par with Hatake Kakashi in strength. There's nothing you can do against me."

"I spar with Kakashi-sensei daily. I'll be the judge of that." The boy stated as he replaced himself with a kunai, bearing down on the Oto shinobi, a second knife in hand. Kabuto caught blond's hand, only for him to once again become a kunai. Appearing next to the enemy nin in a handstand, he spun, and his heel impacted the man's side. He was launched back a small distance, but otherwise looked unharmed.

"I'll heal any damage you do to me, before you have the chance to do enough to kill me." Naruto didn't give a response rather choosing to flicker to the man, catching him across the face with a right hook. The man was quick however, and caught Naruto on the leg with a chakra scalpel, separating muscles, effectively debilitating his leg. "What will you do now Naruto?" He mocked.

"I told you I'm gonna kill you." He forced himself to stand. He knew he couldn't hit Kabuto with his leg messed up like this. He wouldn't be fast enough, and he had no kunai near the nin. He'd have to wait for him to come.

"Naruto! Stop! Go away don't protect me!"

Kabuto smirked, and approached Naruto before appearing in front of him in a burst of speed. "You will die here Naruto." Kunai in hand he moved to shove it into the boy's neck.

"Fuck off Kabuto." The boy said catching the hand holding the kunai by letting it stab through his own. "I won't die until I've become Hokage, and even then. I'll be strong enough it will only come from old age." Kabuto's eyes widened at the fact that he was now stuck. "Just die already." The boy said. Holding his right hand out to his side, a ball of spinning chakra formed in his palm growing to the size of his hand. "It's over. Rasengan!" He yelled slamming the ball of chakra into Kabuto's chest. The ripping of skin and snapping of bone could be heard, as the deadly jutsu ruined the enemy nin's chest. Kabuto quickly moved his hand to Naruto's chest, cutting the muscles away from the boy's heart before he was launched away by the force of the Rasengan.

As the man impacted a rock a distance behind him, Naruto fell backward into the dirt. "Naruto!" Yelled out the elder blond, watching the boy fall. She ran forward crouching over him.

Kabuto's laughter broke the silence as he stood. "I started healing before that jutsu even hit me. Orochimaru favors me, because of my recuperative power." He began to walk forward before falling again. Immense pain shooting through his chest, as he realized the damage that had been dealt was far more than he had expected.

Tsunade, most of her mental stress disappearing as she began to work on the boy, snapped back into a state fit for a Sannin. He was the last one. She would stake her bet on the boy. Just one more time. She quickly set to work healing the boy, and as he regained his life he reached up and grasped at her necklace. "I won our bet." He said before passing out once again.

"That you did." She said as she lifted his head, and slipped the necklace around his neck.

"_That boy is too much like Namikaze….he could be a real pain if I don't take care of him now." _Orochimaru thought to himself. Extending his sword from his mouth, he quickly moved away from Jiraiya. He struck out to stab the boy in his chest, but was stunned when the blade was caught through Tsunade's own. "Damnit woman, you were the one I _wasn't _going to kill, but now you're in the way." He pulled the blade from her chest and moved to lob her head off, but was shocked when he saw a fist swing up and hit him in the jaw. The snake Sannin was sent flying away. "_Her trembling has stopped!"_

"Orochimaru. As the Fifth Hokage of Konohagakure, I will kill you by my own hand." The female Sannin began to attack the snake, the other male soon joining in as well. They battled it out for a while more, before all three summoned their beasts to battle. After a slightly drawn out fight, and with his two former teammates attacking him, Orochimaru chose to make a quick retreat. He grabbed onto Kabuto's extremely damaged form, and sank away into the ground.

The two remaining Sannin along with Shizune gathered around Naruto. "So, you're taking the job?"

"Yes. This boy, he's special. Minato and Kushina always meant a lot to me too, Jiraiya. I just never thought he would force his way into my life. I will hold the title of Hokage until the day he is ready to take it from me."

* * *

_**Welp that's a wrap. Trying to gun for longer chapters from here on out, but some I can only fill with so much. It's a weird process. Anyway thanks for the support! Follow me on Twitter DarlingintheFo1 and ask questions or give feedback or something, I don't know I just made it so I can talk to y'all. Darling in the Fox out!**_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

_**My own little war arc~~**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, we'd have got to watch Konoha beat the fuck out of Otogakure.**_

* * *

Tsunade had returned, with the Fifth Hokage now in place the village was once again running smoothly and was planning its war effort against Otogakure. Although skirmishes had taken place along the border of Fire Country, no battles had been fought.

The other nations had decided that, due to the fact that Konoha didn't lose any significant amount of shinobi nor anyone with particular skill, excluding their Kage, that it would not be smart to involve themselves in the war. Konoha was still strong, maybe not like it was during the short reign of the Fourth Hokage, but it was still strong.

Team Seven had gone on multiple sets of missions, having been a part of a few of the skirmishes with Oto nin so far. Sasuke had been having difficulties with the curse mark, but he was getting by. Well, that was until Orochimaru's four elite shinobi had come to visit him. They offered him a place in Otogakure, and gave him a week to decide. All of this after a battle where they had completely outclassed him.

All of these events led to this moment, where Sasuke sat atop the Fourth's head alongside the man's very legacy. "Naruto."

"Yeah?"

"I need to defect from the village so that I can have the opportunity to assassinate Orochimaru."

Naruto's head whipped to the Uchiha. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Naruto."

The blond sighed, and Sasuke began explaining it all to his friend. Once he felt the boy had a strong enough grasp on the situation, he waited patiently for his input.

"Alright."

"Wait, what?" The black haired boy asked. "You're just alright with it?"

"Yeah but it needs to be approved by Lady Tsunade. Listen S'ke I'm gonna go grab Jiraiya-Sensei. I'll explain it to him and then we will meet you in the Hokage's office. Okay?"

"Hn. Yeah."

* * *

"Tsunade….I hate to admit it but these brats are right. You and I both know Orochimaru is only sloppy when he is overconfident about something." Jiraiya said to his teammate.

"Lady Tsunade...with how bad he wants to take Sasuke's body, he'll train him well, but on top of that, he'll be careless enough to not take a new body until he can take Sasuke's." Naruto said, arguing for Sasuke's plan.

Sasuke now stepped up to the plate himself. "Ma'am, I believe if I go, not only will I eventually be able to rid Konohagakure of the scum that is Orochimaru, but I will also be able to bring many of his techniques and jutsu back to the village. If I was to guess as well, I would assume he will have me sign the snake summoning contract, which would also return to the village alongside me."

"You know all three of you Team Seven brats are a pain in my ass right? You, blondie. Made me come be Hokage, pinkie somehow managed to get me to start training her as my own apprentice, and now you Uchiha brat. You want me to let you fake defection from the village to train under the only other Sannin that doesn't have an apprentice, who is also the leader of the village we are at war with." She sighed loudly, folding her hands and resting her chin upon them. "Damnit Jiraiya, even you are in on this huh?"

"Sorry Tsunade, but even I cannot deny it is a brilliant idea." Jiraiya said laughing loudly.

"Alright. Fine. Uchiha Sasuke!"

"Yes Ma'am?"

"You are here by promoted to chunin and inducted into ANBU. Your first mission will be an S-Rank undercover mission to infiltrate Otogakure, and assassinate Orochimaru. You have six years tops. If he isn't dead in that time, you will be labeled as a missing nin, and I will have you hunted down and killed. Understood?"

"Yes Ma'am!" Sasuke smiled widely.

"Jiraiya! If this goes south I'm holding you responsible!" She gained a slightly angry look on her face and pointed an accusing finger at the Toad Sage.

"Wha-...!" Jiraiya jumped back eyes widening before being cut off.

"Shut up. Now, Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Yes Lord Hokage?"

"You will have a B-Rank mission. Sasuke will trick Sakura into thinking he has defected from the village. You will pick a few shinobi from your graduating class, they will "support" you on this mission. You will fight "tooth and nail" to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke, but in the end you will find a way to make sure he escapes, _without _the rest of your teammates on this finding out. Understood?" The Hokage laid out her plan to the three shinobi before her.

"Yes Ma'am, understood." Naruto replied completely serious.

"Good at the end of your deadline to leave, I will send Sakura to deliver a scroll to you at your compound. Make it believable Sasuke. This will be an S-Rank secret that does not leave the four of us, got it?" She asked, receiving three nods of confirmation she continued. "Good, you're all dismissed."

With that, the three shinobi left, and Naruto and Sasuke began planning.

* * *

"So these four nin that approached you, they're pretty strong, right?" The blond chunin asked.

"Yeah they had me beat from the start." Confirmed the last Uchiha.

"Good then I want to make sure all of them die during this retrieval mission."

"Wait what?" The black haired boy was perplexed.

"They are a threat to the village, and based off of your descriptions, they are likely the four nin who put up the barrier while Jiraiya-Sensei and Lord Third fought with Orochimaru."

"Ah I see. That does put them up there on the kill list huh?"

"Indeed it does. Well Sasuke. Tomorrow is the day. Let's make it believable huh?" Naruto held out his fist to the Uchiha.

"Yeah, let's." Replied the black haired nin, as he bumped his fist with Naruto's.

* * *

"Sakura...I'm leaving the village. Don't try to stop me." Sasuke said, disappearing before she could even move.

"Sasuke!" She cried out staring into the blank space he had just occupied. "_I have to tell Lady Tsunade!"_ She thought, heading straight for the Hokage's office.

The pinkette practically kicked the door in, Tsunade quickly put on a surprised act. "Sakura!?" What are you doing?"

"Lady Tsunade! Sasuke left the village!"

"He what!?" Tsunade played along perfectly.

After a solid moment of explanation, Tsunade summoned Neko. "Neko! Bring me Uzumaki Naruto, and Nara Shikamaru right now."

"Yes Ma'am."

* * *

About an hour later Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji, and Choji were all hot on Sasuke's trail. "Listen we can't let them take Sasuke from the village. He's one of our trusted comrades and we won't go back unless he is with us." Shikamaru said.

"Listen up. It's just us out here. The rest of our shinobi are out on missions supporting the war effort. There is no backup. Fight _smart. _Got it?" Naruto commanded, sprinkling a few lies in. The five shinobi continued through the trees pursuing the enemy shinobi. Finally Neji's eyes picked up one of them turning back around to face the Konoha nin. They engaged in a brief fight, before Choji told the others to go on. He would stay behind while they went ahead.

"Don't die Choji." Shikamaru said to his friend. Before the four remaining nin took off. This same pattern continued, dropping the numbers of the group down as they went on in pursuit of Sasuke. Eventually leaving Shikamaru in engagement with the red headed female sound nin, Naruto found himself alone.

Later he came upon Kimimaro, but before the fight could even fully begin, a drunken Lee showed up, and Naruto continued on.

* * *

He finally came upon the Valley of the End, where he met Uchiha Sasuke. "Oi Uchiha! I'm not gonna make this easy. We've never really had the chance to go all out on each other."

"I didn't think you would, Loser. And you're right, we haven't. So try to stop me."

The two boys immediately engaged in a match of taijutsu. Naruto slowly overwhelming Sasuke with his speed, before they went into an all out ninjutsu contest.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke called as he spit a massive ball of fire from his mouth.

Using a jutsu Jiraiya has seen fit to teach him on the way back with Tsunade in tow, Naruto countered Sasuke's jutsu. "Water Style: Water Wall!"

The fire slammed into the wall of water, causing a column of steam to rise from the spot Naruto had been. Out of the steam burst five Narutos, all throwing a hail of kunai at the Uchiha, the latter moving away having seen just how dangerous a kunai of the blond's was, many times before. The five clones moved in, engaging the black haired boy in taijutsu. Sasuke dispatched each one quickly, sliding into a spin kick to knock the last one out of commission. The last clone took the hit like it was nothing, only as Sasuke found himself impacting one of the cliff edges did he realize that Naruto had substituted with his clone. "Neat trick, Naruto." Said the Uchiha, fully matured Sharingan blazing to life.

Flickering next to the Uchiha landing in a handstand delivering a spin kick that would have broke the boy's neck had he not caught it, Naruto smiled. "Thanks. And learn the body flicker while your gone, it'll do wonders for your speed."

"I plan to, it pisses me off that you use it. I'm still mad I can't figure out how you just substitute with your kunai like that. And I'm really starting to regret the pact we made about me not copying your jutsu with my eyes." The black haired boy retorted, planting his foot in the jinchuriki's chest sending him flying. "Lightning Style: Lightning Pistol Jutsu!" Called Sasuke as he fired several bolts of electricity from his finger at his opponent.

"Wind Style: Gale Palm!" Called the blond nin, the wind nullifying the lightning jutsu. Four Naruto clones came to life beside him, the original grabbing their hands and hurling them at the other nin. Once again the boys went off in a battle of taijutsu. The two began beating on each other relentlessly. Punches and kicks connecting here and there, bones being broken only to be reset minutes later.

Sasuke suddenly planted his foot in Naruto's chin sending him into the air. Appearing behind him, the Uchiha got in two more hits before bringing the blond to the ground with a heel drop. "Lions barrage!" The impact of Naruto hitting the ground caused it to crater. Finally standing the two stared at each other. They had been at it for almost two hours now. Relentlessly beating on each other, and tossing jutsu around like candy. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

"Water Style: Water Wall!" Naruto walked out of the steam looking at Sasuke. "S'ke...Kakashi-Sensei is almost here. I can sense him. He'll try to chase you unless we give him a reason to not be able to." Naruto said almost solemnly.

"What are you suggesting….Naruto?"

"It's simple really. Run a Chidori through me."

"Excuse me?" The Uchiha's eyes went wide.

"Look S'ke. If I'm not in desperate need of medical care, Kakashi might still follow you. It has to be this way."

"Naruto I could kill you!"

"S'ke you have to do this dammit!"

"I can't! You're my best friend! You're more of a brother to me than Itachi ever was! You kept me from losing myself! How can I possibly try to kill you, even if I try not too it might still happen!"

"Sasuke. I'll be fine. I've got the fox to heal me and Kakashi is almost here. I trust you. You won't kill me. Now let's do it. Come on." Naruto said, holding his arms out and leaving himself wide open.

Lightning crackled to life around Sasuke's hand, the Chidori coming to full form. The Uchiha held his arm out in preparation and closed his eyes, he hesitated, while thinking to himself, "_I can't there's just no way I ca-!" _He was broken from his thoughts as the sound of ripping flesh filled the valley. His arm felt warm. As he peeled his eyes open he saw Naruto looking back at him, a smile on his face. His arm was buried through Naruto's chest, right above his heart.

The blond coughed, before laughing and giving a smile to his best friend. "Sasuke. You've got a mission to do. Get out of here." He withdrew a scroll from his pouch and handed it to the Uchiha. "Take this scroll I made. It's got a secret hidden summoning formula that will bring a toad to you, so that they can get my attention to have me come help if you need me after you kill Orochimaru." He then slid himself backwards off Sasuke's hand, taking a few steps back. Sasuke stared at the blond in horror, he had just possibly killed his best friend. "Go S'ke. It's time, Kakashi is almost here." With that Naruto fell backwards onto the ground, the black haired boy quickly checked for a pulse and after a few moments of hesitation, took off in the direction of Otogakure.

* * *

When the copy ninja arrived he almost cried out. Seeing his Sensei's son lying there in a pool of his own blood, damage done that would only be possible if it had been done by his very own jutsu. "_Sasuke! How could you….?"_ He thought to himself as he checked Naruto for a pulse. Finding one he gathered the boy up in his arms "_It'll be okay Naruto, I'll get you back in time." _He shifted the boy onto his back, and took off for Konohagakure.

"Inu…" He heard the boy mumble.

Kakashi sighed lightly. "_You recognize my chakra even in your sleep, eh Naruto?" _He thought to himself, before doubling his efforts to get back to the village.

* * *

Naruto awoke in a hospital bed, he slowly recalled the events that transpired to put him here, and he smiled. "_Good luck, Sasuke." _He sat up, looking out the window into the morning sky. He then heard the door knob turn and in walked Shizune, who was startled when she saw him awake.

"Naruto! You're awake!"

"Seems I am. How long was I out for?"

"It's been about a week. The Chidori did a lot of damage to you, there's even a scar on your chest."

"Ah I see, the Nine Tails really can't heal everything can it?" He asked.

"Of course not! So stop trying to get yourself killed idiot." The woman said in a stern tone.

"Yes Ma'am." He replied dryly.

He snapped his head to the window before Jiraiya could even appear. "Dammit you really are a good sensor brat." The white haired man said with a smile.

"Of course I am."

"Alright brat, listen up. I've gotta leave the village for about seven months. I think it's going to be about four and a half years before the Akatsuki is ready to really make their move. I'm going to make sure that time limit doesn't change. However when I get back, we're going on a training trip got it?"

"Loud and clear Jiraiya-Sensei." The blond replied with a smile.

"Good, later kiddo. I think Kakashi is looking for you." With that the Toad Sage disappeared.

"Shizune, how long until I can be discharged?"

"Give me about and hour to sort some things out and check over you and you can leave." The medical nin replied with a smile.

Naruto later went on to find out how his teammates had faired during the mission, all had made it out alive, and that was good enough for Naruto. He was sad they got hurt. And he started to blame himself but after talking to them all, they reassured him they had made their own choices to stay behind. At least the Sound Five had been killed upon the arrival of Konoha's Suna allies.

* * *

"Chunin Uzumaki!" Tsunade said loudly.

"Yes Ma'am?" The blond nin responded.

"You are to take on a B-Rank mission alongside jounin Hatake Kakashi, genin Haruno Sakura, and genin Hyuga Neji. You will be establishing the basis for our first major attack into the Land of Sound. We will now be fully initiating our war with Otogakure, and the war is about to go off in full swing. There's a small outpost put in place by the Oto nin that we want under our control to start our full efforts. It is one of ten that will be taken by our shinobi. Your team will take over, and hold this outpost until a garrison force arrives to take over for you. Understood?"

"Yes Lady Tsunade."

"Good. Meet with Kakashi at the north gate tomorrow at eight in the morning. Dismissed."

* * *

"Alright let's get a move on." Kakashi said as the four nin gathered at the north gate.

"What's your plan for this Kaka-Sensei?" Naruto asked as the nin leapt through the trees toward the Land of Sound.

"Well I want to get close enough to do recon on the outpost. I'd like to get a force assessment and a battle plan going right away. Neji your eyes are going to be invaluable for this mission. Naruto, you and I will be doing most of the heavy lifting this time around, and Sakura I need you to be ready to put all that new medical ninjutsu to use."

"Why just you and Naruto, Sensei?" Asked Sakura.

"I'd like to eliminate as many enemy shinobi as we can from range before we engage in close combat. Naruto's shadow clones are capable of using jutsu so it shouldn't be too difficult."

"Ah I see. Naruto, when did you learn shadow clones?" Asked the pinkette her curiosity piqued.

"Ha, Well Jiraiya-Sensei taught me during our mission to locate Tsunade." Naruto chuckled at the memory of the trip.

"You know...even though Sasuke left the village, we're all training under a Sannin." Sakura voiced her thoughts aloud.

"That's true, I hadn't thought about it like that. Don't worry Sakura, we're gonna bring him back to the village. I promise."

* * *

The Oto nin's outpost was nothing special. A small walled compound, with four buildings. Neji had counted out fifteen enemy occupiers. From assessing their chakra levels, Neji determined that three of them were low jounin level. Eight were chunin, and four were genin. The four Konoha shinobi retreated back a distance away from the outpost to formulate a plan of attack.

"Alright, let's see. Naruto, you're still skilled with the water pistol jutsu I taught you, right?"

"Yes Sensei."

"Good. Now, you're gonna kill four genin before they even know what's about to happen. I know it's brutal, but are you okay with that?" Kakashi asked his student, slight concern evident in his eye.

"Sensei we're at war. I'll handle it." The boy said with resolve in his eyes.

"Alright, good. Now make four clones and have them prep to hit those genin on my signal." The copy nin ordered.

"Consider it done." Immediately four clones burst to life next to Naruto, all heading off to the predetermined positions.

"Alright now. Form another clone. Your clone and my clone will be performing a combo jutsu at the front gate. Neji, Sakura you two will deal with any chunin who don't fall at the gate. I will take the jounin and Naruto will back me up. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" Came the chorus of the three young shinobi.

"Alright let's get to work."

The shinobi spread out, Naruto's four clones were already in position, and his fifth clone was ready at the front gate with Kakashi's. Sakura and Neji prepared themselves at the rear of the compound, while the real Naruto and Kakashi got the high ground above the left side of the compound.

"Ready, Naruto?"

"Yes Sensei." Kakashi sparked a small amount of lightning in his hand three times, the signal to begin the assault. After this a few things happened in under a minute. First the four clones targeting the Oto genin fired off the Water Pistol Jutsu, watching the small bolts of water pierce the back of the genin's skulls before the clones dispelled.

The clones of Kakashi and Naruto at the front gate gathered chakra to begin their jutsu.

"Water Style: Raging Waves!" Called Naruto, blasting a large forceful rush of water through the front gate.

"Lightning Style: Electric Currents!" Kakashi slammed his hand into the massive flood of water, charging the liquid with high voltage electricity. The combo took down one of the jounin, and killed two of the chunin. As soon as the water cleared, Neji and Sakura lept in an engaged the remaining chunin. The last two jounin moved to assist their comrades only for one to have an arm coated in an glowing blade of lightning tear through his chest. The other stared in horror, only to feel his chest hit the dirt and his back be ground apart by a swirling ball of chakra as the blond landed atop him.

Neji and Sakura quickly dispatched the chunin, while Naruto and Kakashi secured the downed jounin. The man was now tied against a tree, and Kakashi got to work by placing a Sharingan genjutsu on the man, forcing every bit of information out of him he could. After which he was killed.

A few minutes later found Naruto leaning against the entrance to one of the buildings. "I finished searching with Neji for any documented information Kaka-Sensei. We didn't find anything." He said to the copy nin.

"Alright good work."

"Get anything useful from him?"

"Hmm?" The nin responded.

"From the jounin, did you get anything out of him?" The boy asked.

"Just patrol routes, base locations, and a small personnel list." The white haired man replied.

"Ah I see, so any idea if we're going back to the village after the garrison arrives, or are we going to redeploy?" The blond inquired.

"Hmm it's possible the Hokage may send new mission orders with the garrison. I suppose we'll have to wait to find out." Kakashi responded.

The blond simply hummed in response, leaning against the building a bit more, he closed his eyes and relaxed his body. He'd stay like this until the garrison force arrived.

* * *

A garrison force of about ten chunin and a dozen genin showed up the next morning, led by a single jounin. The female jounin approached Kakashi and Naruto with a smile on her face.

"Hey, I'm Sakuraba Mayu. Glad to see your team cleared this place with no injuries."

"It really wasn't much trouble." Kakashi replied with a lazy wave of his hand.

"Lady Hokage has new orders for you Kakashi, I don't know the details, they are in this scroll." Mayu said with a smile.

"Alright thanks." He said. Turning to the blond chunin he waved him over. "Naruto! Come here."

"What's up Sensei?"

"New orders. Gather up Neji and Sakura." The former ANBU replied.

"Yes sir."

Minutes later the four shinobi stood around in one of the buildings. "Alright listen up, I don't want to have to read this twice." He looked up to see the others all giving him their full attention before continuing. "Alright Neji, you are to escort Sakura to outpost four, they had some heavy injuries there and her skills are needed."

"Yes sir. When do we leave."

"Now. Be safe." Kakashi said.

"Will do, Sensei." Sakura said walking out the door.

"Neji, watch after my student." Kakashi said with a slightly more commanding tone.

"I will keep her safe, you have my word." The stoic Hyuga replied. He'd changed a lot since his and Naruto's fight, becoming quite the team player and showing more concern for his friends.

After the Hyuga left, Kakashi turned to Naruto. "Alright listen kiddo, there is some major fighting going on at the tenth outpost. Intel says they have actually managed to stall our forces. The Hokage has ordered our intervention in the battle, she wants the outpost destroyed. No point in trying to take it over anymore." Kakashi briefed the boy on their new orders.

"You got it Sensei. Lead the way." Wishing luck to the garrison forces, the two shinobi departed the outpost to support their comrades in a different sector.

* * *

The fighting was outrageous. When the attack had begun there had only been twenty or so Oto nin. But out of nowhere had come a whole platoon of enemy shinobi. The massive concrete bunker before the Konoha shinobi had kunai launchers mounted inside, as well as slots for the enemy to fire off jutsu from the safety of the bunker. And for chunin Yamaoka Matsu, she couldn't help but think this was the end for her. She was watching her comrades fall in high numbers. The first squad that had shown up to clear the outpost for the garrison force was almost wiped out. When the garrison force arrived, they were met with extreme resistance. She watched as three more of her comrades were cut down by the Oto nin's sound jutsu, as well as kunai from the launchers. "_This is it, this is the end, I'm gonna die here…" _she thought to herself only to hear a voice split the noise of battle.

"Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer!" Her curiosity got the best of her and she looked up from the fallen tree she had taken cover behind, only to see a massive toad land on top of the bunker crushing it under it's weight. She then noticed the young blond, dressed in a black standard Konoha uniform. Adorning his chest was a chunin flak jacket, unzipped, and lightly flapping in the wind.

"Gamahiro! Bring the oil!" Naruto yelled, the massive toad responded by spewing oil from it's mouth covering the entire outpost. "_Thanks for teaching me this, Sasuke." _Naruto thought to himself, although it was much more difficult to learn, perfect, and perform jutsu that weren't your chakra nature, it wasn't impossible. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" He called out spewing flames from his mouth, igniting the oil and burning the entire outpost to the ground. "_Hopefully Kaka-Sensei gets those medical nin here quick, some of these wounded don't have long."_

Dropping down beside the girl he had sensed closest to the bunker he looked down at her. "You okay?" He asked tilting his head slightly.

"Um...yes thank you for saving us." She said in return.

"Of course, I'm not just going to sit here and watch my comrades die." He chuckled lightly.

"You're Uzumaki Naruto, aren't you? I've heard of you, the boy who beat the One Tail solo?"

"Well yeah I beat him, but Gamabunta really helped me a lot." He said scratching the back of his head.

"Still it's very impressive." The girl said back, still in awe of just _who _stood before her. Though he might not know it, and most of the villagers and a lot of the shinobi would deny it. Amongst the Konoha shinobi who had been in the vicinity of the Shukaku's rampage, Naruto was regarded as the first hero of the sound war.

"Well thanks, but you should pull back to the rest of our forces or help collect the injured. I'm sorry but I have to go find my Sensei." He said to the older chunin.

"Right. Thanks again Sir Uzumaki."

"Please just call me Naruto." The blond said to the girl with a wide smile, before leaping off to find his sensei.

About thirty minutes later found Naruto speaking with the copycat ninja. "Jeez Naruto you were at least supposed to wait for me to get back before you attacked."

"Sorry Sensei, another one of our shinobi was going to die then and there if I didn't step in. And I wasn't about to stand and watch."

"I know, I know. I'm proud of you for it. And also I'm impressed Naruto. You do realize you just single handedly destroyed and enemy outpost? At this rate, you'll end up in the bingo book." Kakashi warned.

"Ah come on Sensei, the only people who are alive to know it was me that just destroyed that outpost are _our _shinobi. So I think I'll be alright." The boy countered

"Well I suppose." The white haired man replied.

"So now what?" The younger shinobi asked.

"We wait for new orders."

* * *

_**Whew, rough chapter, tons of events happened. Sorry it's so clustered. I skipped over what happened with the rest of the Sasuke retrieval team because that's all canon. Anyway that's all for now, leave a review or something. Also, for informations sake, the way I have structured the shinobi forces of a village, is that the largest number of shinobi of a single rank a village has, will be made up of chunin. If a village has let's say, 5000 shinobi. Maybe 500 would be jounin. Maybe 1500 would be genin leaving the last 3800 be chunin. In which the missing 200 shinobi would be made up of ANBU black ops. That would be for a smaller village, as I've decided based off canon, each of the larger villages will have a shinobi force of about 16000 shinobi. Anyways, later! Dope ass fight coming next chapter. Darling in the Fox out!**_


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

_**Heyo! Welcome to chapter fourteen of The Son Of Two Heroes! Got lots going on and time is passing quickly, hope you can keep up ;) anyways, enjoy!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, then I would have more money, and this wouldn't be a fanfiction.**_

_**Elypsus: you suggested slowing down, which was the plan haha. An no I'm definitely not losing interest, certain parts will be slightly clustered, and maybe fast. But that's because I don't like writing too much canon stuff. But then we get things like this chapter. And the next although it's different. Anyways hope you stick around, cause it's gonna get better as we go. **_

_**This chapter, for example may have my best fight scene yet.**_

* * *

Jiraiya had been gone for about five months, and the shinobi forces of Konohagakure had pushed about halfway into the Land of Sound. The remnants of Team Seven, Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto, had been key players in many of the major skirmishes throughout the former Land of Rice Paddies.

Naruto's skills with the Toads of Mount Myōboku had become a decisive factor in many of the larger battles waged in the Land of Sound. Their combination jutsus and the toad's general battle prowess had turned the tide of more than a few battles. Sakura's newfound skills with medical ninjutsu had been invaluable to the Konoha war effort. Kakashi and Naruto had by now completed over a dozen high value assassination missions together, taking out key commanders in the Oto force. On top of the natural skill that actual battle builds, Kakashi and Naruto had spent a lot of free time training together. Kakashi had built his skills even more than they had been, going from being a elite jounin, to a definite low S-Rank shinobi. Unknown to even the rest of Team Seven, Kakashi had been training hard with his Sharingan, as well as increasing his chakra reserves as much as he possibly could.

At this point rumors had began to circulate, about a blond Konoha shinobi, who wreaked havoc on the battlefield everywhere he went. Almost reminiscent of a shinobi who had died years ago.

As Kakashi had warned months before, Naruto had indeed made it into Otogakure's bingo book. The blond now had his very own entry, with a bounty to boot. It was nothing crazy, but he was definitely now acknowledged in the shinobi world.

**Bingo book entry-**

_Uzumaki Naruto- chunin _

_B-rank threat_

_Known to possess the toad summoning contract, most likely a student of Jiraiya of the Sannin, and a known student of Kakashi the Copy Nin._

_Uses multiple wind and water jutsu. Also possesses ability to use the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan._

_Order to all Oto nin below jounin rank, do not engage if at all possible._

_Bounty- 100,000 ryo._

**End of entry.**

The three nin found themselves standing in the Hokage's office.

"It's likely we'll be unable to find Orochimaru in the main course of the war, for now it seems as though we will be finding ourselves in a stalemate with Otogakure. Considering it's Orochimaru's village it's likely we will find ourselves fighting _against _guerilla tactics." The blond woman sighed loudly leaning back in her chair. "I'd assume he has many hidden bases throughout the Land of Sound. The main village though, is still a figure head. That will end over the next two months. We have progressed close enough to begin preparations for a main assault. I'd rather have Jiraiya lead the charge, but as you know he is out on a prolonged mission. That is why you, Kakashi, will take Naruto, Sakura, and Gai, to lead the main assault on the village itself."

Naruto looked at his sensei a moment, before turning his head to the Hokage. "Ma'am are you sure you want me at the front of this? I'm not saying I don't want to go, I'm just surprised."

"Your ability to summon the toad's will be an important factor. At this point in the war it's almost a guarantee that any of the civilians that had resided in Otogakure have left. Even so, we will still try to minimize casualties. I don't want this to be a slaughter, but I do intend to have the village itself leveled and wiped off the map. At that point strategic victory will be declared, although war will not be officially over until Orochimaru has been killed. Though with the destruction of Otogakure, most of our shinobi will be able to be brought back to normal duty at the village. Hence we will be able to take the village out of full war mobilization, and halt the drain on funds and resources that war causes." The Hokage explained. "Any questions?"

"No ma'am, when do we leave?" Kakashi asked.

"At the end of this month. Continue training, prepare yourselves, and discuss battle plans with Nara Shikaku. After you deploy, I'd guess another month will put you through the advancement, and the assault on Otogakure." The Hokage stated.

"Understood Ma'am."

* * *

Almost a whole month later found the four assigned nin discussing final plans with the jounin commander, Nara Shikaku.

"As such the large combined force of the chunin battalion will finish the push to attack distance on the village itself. That is where you come in Naruto. I understand you just turned fourteen last month, happy birthday." The Nara clan head said.

"Thank you commander." The blond replied with a smile, before his face turned serious once more. "So what exactly will my roll be?"

"How many of the large toads are you capable of summoning at once?"

"With time for preparation, I can channel enough of the Nine Tails chakra to summon three. Will that do?" The blond asked.

"That's perfect." The jounin commander confirmed.

"What's your plan here, Shikaku?" Asked the masked jounin.

"After the chunin battalion pushes its way to the village outskirts, You, Naruto, Gai, and Sakura will meet with the foremost line. The three of you will guard the boy while he gathers the necessary chakra to perform the summoning." The jounin commander sighed.

"You will summon three of the larger toads, and they will begin attacking the main walls of the village. Once they do, the main garrison of Oto shinobi should come out to attempt to defend. Kakashi, you and Gai will engage these shinobi along with the toad's, and the chunin battalion. A small platoon of jounin will join you as well." Shikaku explained.

"So after we clear the enemy force out, then what?" Asked Naruto.

"The chunin will plant paper bombs throughout the village and detonate them. After which, Naruto you will have the toad's cover as much of the village wreckage as they can with oil. Then you and the rest of the shinobi will ignite said oil, and once the village is set ablaze, all forces will retreat. Any questions?"

"No sir. Orders are understood." Kakashi said. "Naruto let's go get our stuff together so we can meet up with the others and leave."

"Alright Sensei." The blond replied, and with that the two shinobi left the jounin commander, and took off to fight yet another battle.

* * *

Yamaoka Matsu found herself battling alongside her fellow chunin to push their way to Otogakure. The resistance was heavy, they continued to push on. A small squad of Konoha ANBU had also joined in, and because of this they were making considerable progress. Also inspiring the chunin fighters, was the knowledge that _the _Hatake Kakashi, _and the_ one and only Uzumaki Naruto would soon be joining the battle, and so the chunin battalion fought on.

Once they reached the actual village, all of the Oto shinobi they had been engaging had retreated within its walls. It would be suicide to approach alone, and this was a well known fact to the Konohagakure shinobi, so they lay in wait for the arrival of the toad summoning chunin.

As soon as Kakashi and Naruto arrived, along with Gai and Sakura, a platoon of Konoha jounin showed up up as well. With preparations in place Naruto began gathering the necessary chakra to summon Gamabunta, Gamahiro, and Gamaken to the battlefield. After a few minutes, and a few scuffles with Oto nin trying to interfere, Naruto had finally gathered enough chakra to complete his task

"Master Bunta! Ken, Hiro! It's time!" Naruto shouted from atop the head of the Chief Toad.

"Right!" Came the replied of the massive summons. With that they leapt onto the walls, destroying them under their weight, and creating an opening for the Konohagakure nin to begin moving into the village and eliminating the enemy shinobi.

Kakashi came flying to the top of Bunta's head. "Naruto! We've got reports of an enemy high level jounin on the other side of the village! Back me up!" He yelled at the boy.

"Yes Sensei!" The blond replied following the white haired man. The two shinobi took off to the other side of the village, and upon arrival they were met with a gruesome scene. A small collection of Konoha chunin lay butchered at the feet of a grey skinned, deformed man, with orange hair.

"Hahaha! More fresh blood! I'll kill you both!" The deformed man yelled, as his arm began changing into some sort of chakra powered battering ram. He blast his way toward the two Konoha shinobi screaming, "die here!" Naruto and Kakashi's eyes widened at the speed, both of them quickly body flickering some distance away.

"Naruto….he's strong."

"I know Sensei, I can feel it." The blond sighed, as the orange haired man turned around to face them and began to charge again. "Follow my lead Sensei."

"On you." The masked jounin replied.

Naruto quickly formed two shadow clones who took off at the enraged stranger. The two halted just before he reached them and sped through hand seals. "Water Style: Water Wall Jutsu!" They both called out, twin walls of water bursting from the ground, halting the man's progress as he barreled into them. Caught in the water he was then electrocuted, as Kakashi called out his own jutsu, slamming his palms into the water walls.

"Lightning Style: Electric Currents!" He yelled. The chakra enhanced man screamed in pain but immediately began laughing.

"You can't kill Jugo! Jugo kills you!" He yelled cackling all the while. He busted through the walls, destroying both clones before they could move. His next attack forced Kakashi to substitute with a barrel of apples to escape death as the massive deformed arm destroyed not only the barrel, but the street below it. Immediately both shinobi palmed a kunai, and rushed the grey skinned man together. What ensued was a close combat battle that no normal human could possibly follow.

Jugo swung his massive arm down intent on crushing Kakashi, only for the blond nin to grab the masked jounin by the arm. Once he had a grip he pulled the copy nin up and over his own back. Kakashi's feet planted in Jugo's back and he left a kunai in the man's shoulder as well. The copy nin leapt off his back, and when the crazed man turned to him he was assaulted by three Narutos. He managed to destroy two of them, but one planted a kick in his face, sending him into the air. He felt the pain from the kunai lodged in his shoulder suddenly disappear, and although his crazed mind didn't acknowledge it, the kunai appeared on the ground where Naruto had been. "Rasengan!" A ball of chakra impacted his back, and launched him to the ground.

The massive beast of a man quickly flipped to his feet and charged the blond, a blast arm right hook swinging for the chunin's head. The boy ducked under it, and quickly left a kunai in the armpit of his assaulter. Suddenly Jugo felt his teeth get knocked out, as Kakashi ran up his students back and planted his knee in the man's face. The two Konoha shinobi them quickly made space before nodding to each other. All the while the beast man had still been screaming nonsense and violence into the air.

The shinobi sprinted at the unusual man, kunai in hand once again. Naruto ducked low, and swiped the man across the chest with a blade. Lowering his shoulder as he did so, which Kakashi then used as a springboard to jump into the air bringing a kunai down into the beast man's back. He howled in pain, but continued his onslaught against the two Konoha nin.

"Naruto we need to end this!"

"Right! Combo then Sensei?" The boy quickly asked.

"Bring the wind kiddo!"

The two nin landed side by side facing Jugo, both weaving through hand seals.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!"

The two jutsu combined forming a massive stream of fire that barreled toward the monstrous man. It hit him dead on, and the two smiled slightly, only to watch him walk out unscathed. At this sight both shinobi's shoulders sagged and they sighed loudly.

Naruto and Kakashi immediately regrouped down the street from the man. Naruto thought to himself, quickly coming up with a new plan. It was very convenient that Kakashi had seen fit to teach Naruto the headhunter jutsu during the month of preparation they had. "Kaka-sensei, prep your Chidori."

"At those speeds I can't hit him Naruto." The copycat nin said calmly.

"I'll give you an opening, just be there Sensei."

Choosing to trust in his student, Kakashi simply nodded in reply. Naruto quickly formed ten clones, six charging straight at the beast of a man. Two were quickly dispatched and the other four were being quickly worn down. As soon as Jugo destroyed the last of the clones, the other four burst from the ground, all grabbing one of the crazed man's limbs. With the man immobilized Naruto called out, "Kaka-Sensei!"

The former ANBU charged forward, Chidori sparking to life in his hand. His arm impaled the man through the chest, but seeing the man smile he planted a foot against him and ripped his arm out while launching away. Unfortunately for Jugo, Naruto appeared behind him as well, with a fairly large Rasengan in hand. Smashing the deadly jutsu into the back of the crazed man, Naruto pushed him to the ground. He then held him down and let the jutsu do its work, until it carved out of the opposite side of the grey man's chest. The hole the Rasengan created was so large that the man's body had no organs left to function with. With those wounds, there was no hope for survival.

Naruto quickly leapt away toward Kakashi, standing next to the jounin. The legendary jounin looked to the boy. "Nice plan Naruto."

"Thank you Sensei." The blond sighed. "It should be over now." They both turned back to the village, only to see it explode in a massive fireball, the shockwave blowing both Naruto and Kakashi off their feet.

"What the hell!" They both yelled as they were launched away, rolling across the ground a few times before finally coming to a stop. When they stood again, what they saw stunned them. The entire village that had once been Otogakure had become a massive crater. The only remains of it being the outskirts like the parts Naruto and Kakashi had been fighting in, and the areas where the three toads had been earlier. Other than that the rest of the village was a pile of burning rubble. The body's of the dead Oto nin burned and many of the Konoha chunin battalion lay dying from massive wounds.

"God damnit!" Yelled the blond boy. "They fucking tricked us! No!" He fell to his knees pounding his fist against the ground.

"Naruto, calm yourself….we have to go look for survivors." Kakashi ordered solemnly.

* * *

Through the strategic use of Naruto's sensor abilities, the surviving nin who had escaped the initial blast were able to locate and rescue any survivors in the rubble. Of the five hundred chunin in the battalion, only _forty two _survivors were recovered. The ANBU squad that had joined the battle early on had been fighting outside the blast zone, and had escaped with no casualties. The jounin platoon, that had been made up of forty nin, lost most of its force. Sustaining twenty eight casualties, leaving only twelve jounin among the living. Of the chunin that had survived, five were medical nin, and were working against the odds with Sakura to save as many of the wounded as possible.

Then came the counter attack. Two massive snakes had been summoned from scrolls by Oto jounin. Luckily all of the toad summons had escaped the blast, returning to Mount Myoboku. Thus they were ready and willing when Naruto called.

"Shit! Oto nin!" Yelled out a Konoha chunin before catching a kunai to the throat.

"Let Lord Orochimaru's snakes loose!" Yelled an Oto jounin. Two massive snakes were suddenly summoned in the rubble, and they began to attack the Konoha nin, wounded or not.

"I'm not just going to let you kill my comrades like this!" Yelled out Naruto, who channeled the chakra of the Nine Tails and then made a shadow clone. The clone and the original executed a set of hand seals and preformed a technique. "Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer!" They both yelled, and Gamahiro and Gamaken fell from the sky atop the snakes.

"Die here vile creature!" Yelled Gamahiro as he stared both of his swords into the snake.

"You see, I am ungraceful." Said Ken, using his staff to break the neck of the snake he sat atop. Naruto leapt to the top of Ken's head, and called down to his sensei. "Kakashi-Sensei! Gather our shinobi and begin the retreat! I'll hold these guys down, so go!"

Kakashi looked at his student in awe. The boy really was something amazing. He turned to his long time rival. "Gai! Take our shinobi and go, the ANBU and I will back up Naruto, so lead the retreat and get our nin to safety."

"But Kakashi-."

"No buts Gai!" Kakashi said looking sternly at his friend. "We need a strong shinobi to spearhead the retreat so our forces don't get caught in another trap. You're the only one who can go."

Gai's face turned serious, and he looked Kakashi dead in the eyes. "Fine. Just don't die Kakashi."

"I would never!" Kakashi said laughing, and offering his friend an eye smile.

* * *

Although his sister had been a casualty of the massive explosion, the younger brother of chunin Yamaoka Matsu watched in awe as the retreat was made. He watched the blond chunin ride atop the head of a giant toad, fighting tooth and nail to secure their retreat. He had heard stories from his sister about having been saved once by this shinobi. Little did he know, his story along with many others would lead to why Uzumaki Naruto would be regarded by a large amount of the shinobi in Konohagakure, as the _Hero of the Sound War. _

* * *

"Bring the oil!" A shout was heard before a small group of Oto nin were set ablaze by Naruto and Gamaken.

The small group of Konohagakure shinobi were surrounded, and were fighting hard to not be slaughtered by the enemy. "Chidori!" Came the voice of jounin Hatake Kakashi, as he ran his hand through six Oto nin in one fell swoop. The white haired man quickly spawned a shadow clone, a chain of lightning forming between them. "Lightning Cable!" He quickly shot through groups of the enemy shinobi, taking most of them apart at the waist.

Three Narutos appeared in front of a smaller group of Oto nin, all weaving through hand seals.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"

"Wind Style: Open Destruction!"

The combination of the three wind jutsu was what Naruto had taken to calling, the _super wind hurricane combination jutsu_. When Kakashi had heard this name, he couldn't help but sweat drop and instantly decide that Naruto was most definitely like his father when it came to naming jutsu. The torrent of wind ripped apart the Oto nin until there was almost nothing left. The combo Naruto had created was a definite A-rank jutsu.

As the masked jounin engaged a new group of Oto nin. The Fourth's legacy found himself faced with a group of seven Oto shinobi. The blond quickly hurled a handful of kunai at the new arrivals, all being blocked or dodged. He quickly swapped with one of his kunai, slamming a Rasengan into one man's back. After the jutsu hit, he quickly formed two shadow clones, both springing to life and bringing a Rasengan to bare on two more of the enemy. "_Three down."_ Naruto thought to himself, as both clones then flickered away from the small fight. The young chunin vaulted over the back of one man, leaving a kunai buried at the base of the his neck. He died before he even hit the ground.

The boy transitioned into a handstand and brought a leg around into the jaw of another nin, sending him to the ground. Naruto spun around and palmed another kunai, leaving it in the temple of the man's partner. A kunoichi now jumped at him, aiming to cleave his head off with her sword. She sliced clean through him, only to be met with a puff of smoke. The smoke burst away to reveal a new blond, Rasengan in hand that he brought around and buried in her chest. He sent the woman flying, and she harshly impacted a pile of rubble.

The man he had kicked down earlier then leapt into the fray, Only to be met with a kunai in his throat. The blond quickly dispelled his other clone and made his way back to his sensei. "Kaka-Sensei!" He called out to the obviously winded jounin.

"Ah Naruto, looks like we finally pushed them back for now." He said, and suddenly a loud whistle split the air. "Well that's the signal to pull off. Sounds like our wounded made it out okay, Naruto."

"That they did. Need help walking Sensei?" The boy asked the tired man.

"No I think I can manage this time." Kakashi said with a eye smile and a laugh.

"Okay Sensei, just take it easy though." Naruto said, worry evident on his face.

"I'll be fine. I promise." The man replied with a chuckle as they began tree running in the direction the retreating Konoha forces had left hours earlier. " Naruto, what's got you so worked up?"

"Sensei….I just watched us lose over four hundred shinobi in a matter of seconds. What's to stop that from ever happening to you and Sakura. I don't want to lose you guys. I can't even imagine how I'd feel. What if I lose you?" The boy asked, an aura of sadness rolling off him.

"Well Naruto, sometimes our friends die and we can't stop it. All we can do is get stronger and fight harder to stop it from happening again." The masked jounin replied. The two shinobi continued through the trees and fields, making their journey back to the battle group in silence.

* * *

After linking up with the battle group. The true number of losses had been revealed, four hundred and eighty six shinobi had died in the initial blast. Of the fifty four survivors, twenty seven had succumb to their wounds. Six jounin, and twenty one chunin, bringing the total to five hundred and thirteen casualties on the Konoha side. It was a somber day for the Konoha shinobi and for the village itself. Upon return a mass funeral was held for those lost in the battle. The Hokage gave a speech, and the village grieved. Although the casualties had been high, the main war with Otogakure was now over. Sunagakure and Konohagakure would continue to hunt down Orochimaru's bases and continue to whittle down his forces, but the villages could now take themselves out of active war stance.

At the end of the month, Jiraiya finally returned. He spent an entire day consoling his student. The boy still hadn't quite gotten over the loss of so many in seconds. But that was to be expected. The boy had never seen war before, and it was only natural.

"Tsunade...I want to take the boy on that training trip."

"Ah yes, as much as I'd like to approve it, you'll have to wait about nine months." She said in reply to the tall Sage.

"What! Why nine months?" He said in complete surprise.

"I've a large amount of jounin on a prolonged mission. I need as many highly skilled chunin captains on active roster as possible right now. So until they return, I need Naruto around." She countered, completely calm.

"Fine. Nine months, but no longer. I need to make him stronger before the Akatsuki makes their move."

"I know Jiraiya, and I fully intend for you to take him. But right now, his village needs him."

"Alright, well I'm going to head off then. I'll be back in nine months."

"Akatsuki hunting again?"

"Something like that." He said with a chuckle.

* * *

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Yes ma'am?" The boy asked the Hokage.

"Currently jounin Kanagaki Harumi is out on an extended mission. For now as a chunin captain, you will be leading her genin on missions, along with other chunin and genin mixed in from time to time." She said in her atourive tone. "This should go for about three months. Maybe less. After which you will be assigned to a new team, as we will be rotating through chunin captains. But for now get acquainted, and come to my office in three days for your first mission."

"Alright will do, where can I find them?" He asked.

"Team Twelve can usually be found at training ground twenty four. They hold team training around this time everyday so they should be their right now."

"Alright, see ya!" He said jumping out of the window behind her, she stared a moment before gaining a tick mark on her forehead.

"_That damn brat! Just use the door!" _She thought angrily.

* * *

Team Twelve was currently minding their own business. They were busy with their daily training, and with their sensei off on a mission, they been told they would be assigned a chunin captain for a while. They would be doing a lot of missions, and training would be on their own time, along with anything the chunin may feel like teaching them.

When a blond boy, their own age landed beside them via body flicker, they were slightly surprised. Especially after realizing that their chunin captain was the Hero of the Sound War.

"Naruto!?" The girl exclaimed, "I knew you got promoted, but I never guessed you'd be our captain."

"Ryuko!? And the twins!? Wow this is wild." He said in surprise. He never expected Team Twelve to be the very team he had met in the forest of death all those months ago. "So I guess I'm gonna be leading you guys on missions for a while huh?"

"Looks that way, can't believe we're gonna have you leading us, Captain Uzumaki." The girl said.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, as smile splitting his face. "Please, just call me Naruto." He laughed loudly.

"Alright if you insist."

"I do, now how about we go get some ramen so I can have you all tell me about your skills." The blond said to the group.

"Alright food!" Yelled out Roku.

"Jeez...you're too loud Roku." Aiko commented, sighing at his identical twin's antics.

* * *

"Ohhh! Hey there Naruto! It's been a while!" Teuchi called out as Naruto entered the ramen stand, Team Twelve in tow.

"Heya Teuchi, sorry I've been running a lot of missions lately."

"It's alright my boy, trust me lots of us in the village have heard about just how busy the "_Hero of the Sound War _has been"

"Ah come on Teuchi. It's nothing special." The blond replied.

"Oh! Naruto, you're back!" Ayame shouted as she strolled to the front of the stand, hearing the voice of the number one Ichiraku customer.

"Hey there Ayame. Good to see you."

"What can we get started for you, Naruto?"

After taking the orders of all four shinobi, the ramen shop sprung to life, and the shinobi began to converse.

"So tell me about your skills and stuff." Naruto said, a bright smile on his face. "I need to know what all of you can do, you start Roku."

"Aye captain!" The boy said, snapping his hand to his head in salute. The other twin simply sighed at his brothers hyperactiveness. "My brother and I both have Earth affinities. We are capable of a few low level jutsu in the style, nothing more. I'm fairly fast and have pretty great chakra control. All of us on the team have learned the tree climbing exercise. I know kenjutsu, and am fairly skilled with my tanto. That's about all I've got sir!" The hyper twin finished.

"Alright good, how about you Aiko?"

"He said tell him about your own skills, not ours idiot." He said, addressing his brother. "Anyway. I am fairly fast as well, but have more chakra than him, but that comes with less control. I also skilled in kenjutsu. I use a katana, and I'm quite proficient if you ask sensei."

Naruto simply hummed in response before turning from the stoic brother, to the sole female on the team. "And how about you, Ryuko?" He asked.

"Well I've got a fire affinity. I have good chakra control, I have the fireball jutsu down, and have a couple of genjutsu under my belt. I'd say I've got about average speed. I'm mostly a medical nin. I've got a lot of medical jutsu under my belt and I'm skilled in them as well." The girl said, explaining her abilities.

Naruto took a moment to really take in the details of the team's appearance. The boys were both had brown hair and green eyes. They were also of fairly tan complexion. They wore dark green shirts, with black shinobi pants. They also had armour akin to that of the warring clans era draped over them. One possessed a tanto, strapped over his shoulder, while the other carried a katana. Both seemed to look at life in a bright view. One boy was very hyper, while the other was a very stoic person.

When it came to Ryuko, well Naruto had to admit, she was very cute. She black hair that graduated to dark red at the tips, green eyes and a soft smile. She was pale skinned, almost a sharp contrast to her teammates. She wore a mesh shirt with a green ANBU style vest over top, along with a pair of black pants. From what Naruto had seen she was pretty outgoing and cheerful.

"_This team shouldn't be too bad then."_ Naruto thought with a smile. "Well you three should meet me at your training ground tomorrow so I can see just what you can do, and then the next day we will go grab our first mission. Sound good?"

"Of course. Later Naruto!" The hyper boy said, his brother giving a simple bored wave and both took off through the village.

Ryuko looked at Naruto for a minute, but when she realized she was staring she broke her gaze with a blush. She quickly turned around to leave, cocking her head back at the blond. "See you tomorrow Naruto." She smile widely at him, and then took her leave.

"Well….this should be interesting." The boy muttered to himself, before ordering a second bowl of ramen.

* * *

_**Well. I'm very very happy with those two fight scenes. Had way too much fun writing them. In this story Jugo had been driven even more nuts by Orochimaru's experiments so he turned him into a weapon. That's the end of the main stuff for the Sound war, but there will still be more missions involved in it in the future. How bout that twist with the battle, I'd bet you didn't expect that haha. 513 shinobi dead, yikes. Anyway we meet the random team from the chunin exams, and Naruto's going to be leading them on a few missions. Naruto is beginning to be recognized by all the Shinobi of Konoha, but he's got a long way to go. Especially with the villagers. Follow my account on Twitter if you want to ask any questions, DarlingintheFo1 just had a quickly done picture of my version of pre chunin naruto put up on my twitter as well. Anyway, that's all for now, see ya! Darling in the Fox out!**_


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

_**Oi! Welcome back to The Son Of Two Heroes. Fifteenth time around and I've still got more to feed ya. Hope you all enjoy.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, then I would have more money, and this wouldn't be a fanfiction.**_

* * *

One month had passed since Naruto had taken the temporary reigns of Team Twelve. He hadn't expected their third delivery mission to Sunagakure to kick off with an ambush by Oto nin, but he supposed that was why he was there, instead of just the genin alone with no jounin.

An Oto chunin was poised to shove his kunai deep into Ryuko's chest, she stared back at him in horror. "_This is it! I'm done for!" _She screamed in her mind. Surprise slowly made its way onto her face though, after she watched a blue ball of chakra impact the man's torso. He was shot away from her at a high speed and slammed into a tree. She turned to see Naruto standing over him. The blond palmed a kunai and buried it in the man's chest, before he turned back to her.

"You okay?" He asked with a smile.

"U-um y-yeah I am." She answered back still shaking. It wasn't her first time in combat, but she'd never encountered an enemy that could move faster than she could react. If Naruto hadn't been there she most definitely would have died.

"Good. It's alright now, their all taken care of. Anyway let's regroup." He said to the still slightly shaken girl.

The team regrouped, before Naruto made the executive decision to double time it to Sunagakure. Upon arrival they were met with a few Suna nin. After Suna found out they had been tricked, they immediately offered to once again uptake the treaty they had before. They also offer consolidation money, along with their shinobi forces as support for the Sound War.

Messages and important war intel were commonly swapped between the villages. On many occasions a messenger hawk was too insecure for the transfer of intelligence. In turn shinobi commonly ran messages between the village on foot. Hence the very mission Naruto was currently partaking in. They had delivered the scroll they carried to the Suna council, as they still had not chosen a new Kazekage. There were many whispers around the village though, that _Gaara _would be chosen soon. The other whispers to be heard as Naruto and his team walked through the village were things like "_that's him!" _And other phrases like "_no way it's…."_ But the thing that had most staring at the boy in awe, and what also cause his team great surprise at how widely know Naruto was, were the words, "_that's who beat Gaara."_

As they made their way to a hotel they had been offered, they would be staying overnight to bring Suna's return message back the next day, they ran into the man himself.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto and his team came to a halt in the street. Naruto held his hand out, keeping the team behind him. The blond stepped forward toward the sand jinchuriki, the unexpected thing about him being the smile that he held on his face.

"Gaara." The blond was standing only a few feet away when he spoke, smile still splitting his face.

Gaara stepped forward, extending his hand to the blond shinobi. "Thank you, Naruto."

"Heh, no need to thank me. You're just like me, after all." The now widely known chunin said. He took Gaara's hand, and firmly shook it. The redhead cracked a small smile at him and waved his hand in the air. Both of his siblings fell to the ground beside him. "Naruto. You enabled me to see my family as my _family._ And that will always mean the world to me. I have friends and bonds, that I thought I could never have. But I have them now, thanks to you." The soon to be Kazekage said.

"You gave us our brother back, and kept us alive even though you had every right to kill all three of us. Thank you." Temari said on behalf of both her and Kankuro.

"I'm glad." Naruto said back.

"Temari, Kankuro, will you please escort his team to the hotel? I'd like to have a chance to talk with Naruto."

"Of course we will Gaara, don't go getting into trouble."

"Team Twelve, please follow these two, I'll come catch up later, I need to catch up with the rumored Kazekage." The blond said winking at his team and attempting to elbow Gaara lightly in the side, only to be blocked by sand. "Damn forgot about that." He said laughing, and the two shinobi walked away down the street chatting like old friends.

"T-they haven't spoken since Gaara last tried to kill him. How can they just come off like friends!?" Roku asked.

Temari moved to voice an answer to the boy but Ryuko beat her to it. "Roku….Naruto has something special I feel like no one else has….he's just amazing, and he can change people for the better quite often."

"Well you hit that nail on the head." Temari said. "But sounds like you've got a big old crush on your captain." The blond teased the red and black haired girl. At this, Ryuko's cheeks turned bright red and she began sputtering nonsense. After a moment she just looked to the ground and stopped speaking, cheeks redder than ever. The boys and Temari all just laughed.

* * *

"So Gaara….what changed?"

"About me? Well I'd say you are what changed."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"After you beat me, and I heard your words…. it awoke inside me the desperate boy I had locked away. The boy who just wanted friends and a family. You made me realize that, at the very least, I had a family. So thank you, Naruto." The redhead said to the boy who had pushed the darkness away, the darkness that had taken hold so long ago.

"It's no problem Gaara. You're just like me, and us jinchuriki should stick together. When you are Kazekage, and I am Hokage, we will have the greatest alliance ever. A bond that won't be broken." The blond smiled at the future Kage.

"I look forward to that, Naruto." The other boy said.

"So, you got a ramen shop around here?"

"We do."

"Take me there buddy! There's ramen to be eaten!"

"Alright." The redhead said grabbing onto Naruto, and flickering them both to the little shop hidden away in the smaller side of Sunagakure. The boys ate and chatted awhile, passerbys starred in awe every time Gaara let out a chuckle. It was a sound none had heard before. Sometimes a Suna nin would walk by and almost face fault at seeing the once homicidal jinchuuriki laughing along side the boy who had single handedly beat him. Gaara listened as Naruto told stories of Team Seven's adventures, and even shared some of his own stories from when he was very young, of how he would entertain Temari and Kankuro with amazing creations with his sand.

"Wait wait wait. You can make cool stuff with it!?"

"Indeed I can."

"Aw man, your power is so cool."

Gaara laughed again, but grew a curious look when Naruto's face turned serious. "Gaara….The Shukaku...it doesn't let you sleep does it?"

"No.. it does not. I am fine with never sleeping, as long as I can protect my village by doing so."

"Gaara. I'm going on a trading trip in the coming months with Jiraiya-Sensei. I'm going to be learning a lot more about sealing. When I come back, I promise to you that I will fix your seal, so you can finally get some rest."

"Thank you… Naruto, but it's not necess-"

"I already made the promise Gaara. So it's happening."

"Alright."

Naruto looked at his fellow jinchuriki, before speaking once again. "I'm going to share and S-rank secret with you. There is an organization, a group called the Akatsuki. They are strong, made up entirely of S-rank missing nin. They have a single goal, it is to capture all of the nine tailed beasts. We don't know what they plan to do with them, but it obviously cannot be good."

"I see." The redhead responded.

"Yeah."

"It never stops for us does it?" Gaara asked.

"No….but one day it will. I swear."

"We can only continue on, and see what the future holds, I suppose."

"You got that right mister Kage. Anyways, I should probably get back to my team now Gaara." Naruto said standing from his chair and looking into the night sky.

"I bid you well then, Uzumaki Naruto."

With that they both flickered away. The quiet night then fully settled over Sunagakure.

* * *

The next day, Naruto and Team Twelve returned to Konohagakure. Settling down for a while before picking up a new mission. This pattern continued and soon, his time with Team Twelve was over. It had been only about two and a half months, and the group had grown fairly close. It would be another six and a half more months before Naruto would leave with Jiraiya. Their jounin had returned, and he was now to lead a group of chunin on what would mostly be patrols. He also popped in and out of a combat group assigned to assault some of Orochimaru's bases.

He began spending time with Team Twelve every now and then. Sometimes Sakura would join them, or someone like Kiba or Shikamaru and Choji. It was nice to have so many friends to see and it was to the point he couldn't go around the village for too long without running into one. Leading to the new situation he found himself in.

"Please go out with me!" The girl yelled as she bowed down before him.

"Eh? … eh?! What!?" Naruto replied, and the girl looked up at him sadly.

"Do you not want too…" she trailed off.

"No! I mean yes! I mean… well are you sure? I've… I've never had a girl _like_ me before."

"Naruto, do you really think I'd ask you out if I didn't like you?" She questioned.

"Well no… but I…"

"Will you at least go on a date with me, even if you won't be my boyfriend outright."

"No! I'll be your boyfriend. I would love to be your boyfriend! You're a great person, and you're super pretty. So yes!" He replied smiling widely.

"Wait really!" She shouted happily.

"Of course Ryuko!" He said just as loudly. He then noticed people were staring at him weirdly, so he grabbed her by the shoulder, and flickered them to the Hokage mountain.

"How's this for a view?" He asked the now identified red and black haired girl known as Takarada Ryuko.

"Wow! This is amazing, I've never actually been up here!" She said.

"Heh… it's pretty great. I come here a lot."

"With how much you want to be Hokage, I'm not surprised."

"Ryuko...why do you like me?" The blond boy questioned.

"Well..you're amazing Naruto. You're so outgoing and kind. But you're also a level headed shinobi, an extremely skilled one at that. You seem to have this way of bringing out the best in people, and I enjoy seeing you do it. You're also very perceptive, and collected, as well as being very serious whenever necessary. You're an all around amazing guy, and I've liked you since we met in the forest of death. Especially because you're really funny."

"When I was assigned to your squad, one of my first thoughts about you was that you were cute. And you've turned out to be a kind and gentle person. Something I greatly enjoy. So….how does this work, exactly?" He finished asking nervously.

"We just spend more time together, and I'd like you to meet my best friend, and I suppose I'd like to meet your close friends as well?" She replied.

"Well you already sort of met Gaara, and you have met Sakura. Say wanna go on a date?" He asked with a wide smile.

"Of course!" She said, with her own smile.

"Are you alright with going to Ichiraku? We can go someplace more fancy if you'd like." He asked.

"Ichiraku is fine with me! I never really worry about that stuff, I'd just like to get to know you better."

"Perfect, let's go!" He shouted grabbing her hand and flickering them to the ramen shop.

"Oh? Just you two today? What is this, a date?" Ayame asked scandalously.

"Actually, you got it on the head Ayame!" Naruto replied

"Wait what!?" She said in shock. "Dad! Naruto is here on a date!"

A loud "congratulations!" Was heard from the back of the shop.

They sat and chatted, sharing stories of their younger days. Naruto found out that her parents had been killed on a mission about six years ago, but it didn't hit her as hard anymore. He also found out that the girl Sakura fought in the finals, Hinazuki Rikka was actually Ryuko's best friend.

"You'll have to meet her soon! I bet she'd love it. We've known each other a while now, been friends since the academy!"

"Wow that's pretty cool! You guys sound like great friends!"

"We are!" She said with a bright smile.

"_Cute." _He thought to himself. At this point night had settled and it was starting to get late. "Well I suppose we should be leaving. I have patrol in the morning, but I'm back by late afternoon, if you'd like to meet up?"

"Of course I would." She said laughing before turning to the blond boy. "Walk me home?" She asked.

"Gladly." With this the two nin strolled off into the street, heading for her home.

"So Ryuko, tell me some fun facts about you?"

"Sure! Well I like red, that's probably my favorite color. I like to head over to the Inuzuka animal clinic and help out Hana there. Either that or helping out at the hospital. I like to work on my medical ninjutsu. I really don't have a favorite food or anything. I like to hangout with Rikka and when we can practice our medical jutsu together."

"What do you want your future to be like?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, a confused look overtaking her face.

"Well like what's your dream. I mean I want to be Hokage, and Sakura wants to be a strong kunoichi and start a family one day."

"Ohh, I see. Well one day I'd like to be an amazing medical kunoichi on the scale of Lady Tsunade, and eventually settle down and have a family. Maybe even retire from active duty and be a housewife once kids come along." She smiled as she into the night sky while they walked.

"That does sound nice doesn't it….my very own family." Naruto said aloud. The girl looked at him sadly, concern on her face.

"Naruto…" she knew he was an orphan, and she was sad he'd never known his parents.

"It's alright. I know my mother and father loved me a lot. I don't know who my dad is, but my mother Kushina was an amazing kunoichi and I'm super proud of her." He looked at his new girlfriend, a large smile on his face. He stared at her attractive face a while, saying nothing before he suddenly blurred out, "you're beautiful."

His eyes went wide as saucers and she blushed furiously. "I just said that aloud didn't I?"

The girl laughed loudly smile spreading across her face. "Yes you did Naruto. But anyways, we're here." She said, clasping her hands together behind her back and bending slightly toward him. "Thank you for walking me home Naruto."

"Of course."

* * *

The next day, early in the evening found Naruto arriving at his home, he had gotten back from patrol much later than expected. "_I hope Ryuko won't be mad." _He thought, turning the key on the door and walking inside. He set his things down, and stripped before climbing into the shower. As he stepped out, he began toweling his hair. His peace and quiet was interrupted by a knock at the door. "_Must be ANBU I've probably got another mission." _He thought wrapping the towel around his waist and strolling to the door. He turned the handle and opened it, only to be greeted by the face of his new girlfriend.

"Hey Naruto! I heard you...got…..back from…." She trailed of seeing his state of undress.

"Ryuko...are you okay?" He asked not realizing he wasn't dressed.

"Naruto…" She squeaked out, turning around and covering her face. "You're naked!"

"Oh shit." He said calmly before it fully hit him. His eyes went wide and he immediately shouted, "OH SHIT! SORRY! Hang on real quick!" He closed the door on her, and a loud collection of bangs and crashes could be heard as he struggled to get dressed quickly in his state of embarrassment. He opened the door again, and greeted her. Now fully dressed in his black standard Konoha shinobi outfit (like what Kakashi and Iruka wear under the flak jacket), only leaving the pouches and other attachments in the house. "Heya Ryuko….sorry about that. Umm would you like to come in? I could make dinner?"

"It's alright." She said still not able to look him in the eye a massive blush still covering her face. "And you're offering to make dinner?"

"I've always cooked a lot, I had to learn pretty quickly after Iruka-Sensei told me I needed to eat more healthy food. So would you like to come in?"

"Yes! Thank you!" She said happily, entering the home as he closed the door behind them. It was a simple home, a bedroom, and a connected bathroom, along with a combined kitchen and living room. He had a small couch and a coffee table, and a simple kitchen.

"It's not much, but I try to keep it clean, and its home after all."

"Try!? This place is spotless Naruto."

"Heh, shoulda seen it during the academy days." He said laughing loudly. "What would you like to eat? I've got some fish I could cook, if you'd like."

"Yes fish sounds amazing thank you!"

"Of course." He said laughing. Naruto began cooking and continued their conversation. "So what did you do today?" He questioned.

"Well thanks to you, genin don't have super dangerous missions anymore, since we aren't in a wartime stance. Sensei had some important mission that came out of nowhere, so she was gone today. So me and my team were taken under the wing of some chunin named Ichiyo. She was nice and we ran a simple delivery mission to the Fire capital, I don't know if you've been there, but it's huge!" She said dramatically.

"Well that certainly sounds exciting." The blond commented while chuckling. "You didn't run into any trouble did you?" He asked while putting the finishing touches on the food he was cooking.

"Nothing bad, just a few bandits we found on the road. Ichiyo and our team took them out pretty fast, we just tied them up and left them. Our captain said she'd send a team to retrieve them." She sighed. "I'm so tired, but anyway, how was your mission?"

"It was nothing out of the ordinary." He said setting a plate before her a perfectly cooked fish dinner on it. "Ran into some Oto nin trying to sneak into Fire Country on the way, but we took care of them quickly."

"That's good, I'm glad you didn't get hurt. And Naruto, this looks absolutely delicious!" The girl said with a grin, the food smelled absolutely delightful.

"Thanks I try my best when cooking. It's actually kind of a hobby for me." He stared at the girl, taking in the dark black hair that slowly morphed to red as you moved to the tips, she really was stunning.

The girl looked at the food and said, "thanks for the food!" Before digging in, the taste was amazing and she was thoroughly surprised Naruto could cook so well. "This is soooo good Naruto!"

"I'm glad to hear it." He said as he began eating his food. They ate and talked about random things as they did, just happy to spend time together. They were interrupted shortly after though, by a knock at his door. He stared at the door for a moment confusion evident on his face. "Who could tha- oh shit! I forgot!"

"Forgot what?" His new girlfriend asked.

"It's Friday! Me and Shika always play shogi on Friday night! I'm sorry I'll tell him we'll have to reschedule." But before Naruto could move to the door, the girl grabbed his hand.

"Actually, you should bring him in, I'd like to watch."

"Ryuko it can get quite boring you really don't wa-"

"Naruto. It's fine really plus I have my sketchbook, and I really want to see just how exactly you manage to beat the genius Nara Shikamaru on every other game." The cute girl said in a sing song voice.

"Wait you've heard about that!?"

"Shikamaru complains to Choji about it all the time. Now go let him in." With this, Naruto moves to the door and opened it.

"Hey Shika, oh! And you brought Choji and Ino."

"Nah, I brought Choji. Ino just wouldn't leave. Troublesome woman." The bored boy replied with a light smirk.

"Well that's fine, I've got Ryuko here."

Ino chose this moment to pipe up. "What! You've got a girl in your house alone with you!? Ryuko what's the deal!?"

Naruto sweat dropped at this. "She's my girlfriend Ino."

"WHAT?!" And with that Naruto's apartment came to life for the night. Ryuko was forced to explain, while Naruto and Shikamaru started their game, Choji just happily watched while he ate his chips.

Thirty minutes later found Shikamaru with a confused look on his face, and Ryuko and Ino laughing loudly at the boy.

"I just don't get how you think of these moves. I can't figure you out." He said to the blond. The unknown legacy had just beat Shikamaru in a match, and they prepared the board for another.

"Kakashi-sensei once told me I'm an amazing tactician. It just kind of comes to me. If you haven't noticed Shika, I'm kind of good at being a ninja."

"Of course I noticed you dolt. It's starting to make me wonder if you being Hokage is such a far fetched thing."

"Eh?" Naruto said in shock. "Eh!? What did you just say!? You really think I might become Hokage?"

"Naruto. Out of our entire generation, there's not a single shinobi who can stand against you in a fight. At least not for very long. The probability is there if you look at the numbers." The Nara boy explained.

"Ah I see...well still thanks Shika."

"Don't let it go to your head." The shadow user said.

"Mahhhh, I want Rikka to be here! She needs to meet you!" Ryuko suddenly broke in, pouting.

Naruto quickly formed a clone sign and two shadow clones burst to life beside him. "Go find Rikka and invite her."

"Got it." The two said and disappeared out the door.

"Well, that works I guess" Ino commented.

Two games of shogi later, one of which Shikamaru won, and there was a knock at the door. Ryuko quickly answered it. "Rikka! How's it going!?" She asked her best friend.

"I'm doing fine, thank you Ryuko." She said calmly with a soft smile. Naruto quickly glanced over the appearance of the newcomer. She wore darker clothes, which were in complete contrast to the burnt orange scarf she wore around her neck. She had blue shoulder length hair, and red eyes, something that wasn't very common. Another outstanding feature were the red markings that come up from the side of her face, ending below her eyes. They were almost reminiscent of the Inuzuka markings, but upside down. She seemed like a fairly withdrawn and tight lipped person.

"Hello." She said to everyone simply.

"Yo." Said Shikamaru, Choji gave the girl a simple nod.

"Hey!" Ino called.

However; Naruto quickly stood and moved to the doorway and extended his hand to the girl. "Hey! I'm Uzumaki Naruto. It's nice to meet you. I'm dating your friend, so I'd like it if we could be friends as well and get along. Welcome to my home." He said laughing.

The girl shook his hand but looked at him blankly and said, "you talk to much."

Naruto face faulted and was completely blown away by the response. The rest of the people in the apartment laughed at his expense.

"Rikkkaaaa. Don't be rude." Ryuko said jokingly, knowing this was just the kind of person Rikka was. "Anyways come sit!"

"Alright."

The group enjoyed their night, having a lot of fun around the table, Naruto and Shikamaru eventually even stopped their game. The two began being social with the rest and were made fun of for a while for being so into a game like shogi. They defended with mentions of it keeping their minds sharp, and helping them with battle strategy.

Eventually everyone said their goodbyes, and it was just Naruto and Ryuko. They chatted a while as he walked her home, and upon arrival, she suddenly kissed him on the cheek, said a quick goodbye, and rushed inside. This left Naruto standing dumbly outside her house for a few minutes, but he finally composed himself and began his walk home. "_Ryuko really is just too cute." _He thought to himself, before he began whistling a soft tune and finishing his walk home.

* * *

The next morning Naruto slept in. It had been a while since he had the chance to do such a thing. "_Man, I forgot how nice it is to sleep in." _He thought to himself. He felt amazing. His whole body seemed to have needed the rest.

The boy moved to his kitchen, and fashioned himself a nice egg breakfast. He began eating as he unfurled a few scrolls on the table. They were all fuinjutsu scrolls that Jiraiya had given him, a few had been his mothers. What he was currently studying were resistance seals. These were a lot like the weights Rock Lee had worn, but these were applied to the body, or clothing. Training with these seals could quickly increase physical strength, and provide a much needed boost in speed when they were released. He was just trying to figure exactly how they would need to be applied so that he could release and apply them like flipping a switch. He was also running into trouble on how exactly he was to increase the level of resistance they had. Just like Lee, eventually his body would be used to them, so he would need to be able to increase their level in intervals.

The second seal he was studying was the paralysis seal. This had the ability to lock up every muscle in the body, causing the target to experience temporary paralysis. It's effectiveness was proportionate to the size of the target, and the amount of chakra the target had. He supposed it could be useful in a fight when you needed to temporarily immobilize your opponent. The only problem with this seal was the fact that it was indeed temporary.

The third seal he was currently studying, was the restraint seal. It was quite like the paralysis seal, but it required the target to be still while it was applied. The other drawback was that the fact that it took quite a bit of chakra, as well as some time to prepare.

He'd long ago decided that fuinjutsu was the weirdest of the shinobi arts. Sometimes, sealing jutsu required a brush and paper. Other times, seals could be created and placed by the users chakra. It was confusing, but it was the way it worked. The fire sealing method used special ink and a brush, and the seal had to be drawn. But the paralysis seal could be placed by simply doing hand seals, and then placing your palm upon the intended target.

Fuinjutsu has complicated rules, and half the time it didn't even make sense, but it just worked. However, Naruto wasn't complaining. He loved fuinjutsu, and he wished he had more time to study it. It deeply interested him, and he always enjoyed learning more about it from Jiraiya.

After a while, the boy put his scrolls away and washed his dishes. Getting properly clothed, he left his apartment to go find something to do, maybe he would drop by and see his girlfriend, but he might find Kiba or Lee for a spar. He often wished Sasuke was still in the village for the simple reason of the fact that he needed a sparring partner that could push him. Kakashi would never seriously spar him, as he could accidentally kill his student.

He also hadn't fought Sakura in a while, he wondered how much her skills had really increased. She had definitely come a long way since the academy. He was proud of his pink haired teammate. His mind often wondered to how his best friend might be doing. Sasuke was still in deep cover, but he was also training. He wondered how strong the Uchiha might be once his mission was complete. "_Oh well, I'll have to wait to find out. Guess I'll go find Ryuko."_ The blond thought, strolling down the street in the direction of the girl's house.

* * *

_**Welp that's a wrap. Our boy Naru has a girlfriend now! Btw in my story, Hinata never met Naruto. But she still kind never gave up, but she still a shy wimp. I love her, but she just doesn't fit well in the plot for this story. Hope you all want to see where we go from here, but I can promise you one thing: some crazy shit gone happen soon. Anyways that's all, see ya! Darling in the Fox out!**_


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

_**Heyo! Chapter sixteen is here and our story continues! **_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, Naruto's hair when he got older would have for sure been like Minato's.**_

* * *

Ryuko was eating breakfast alone at her kitchen table. She was slightly zoned out, and still kind of asleep. She hadn't even changed out of her pajamas. She moved to take another bite, but was startled by a knock at her door. She got up, moving to the entryway and opening the door. She was greeted with a tall blond, with long bangs framing his face. The girl had always been captivated by the whisker marks that adorned his cheeks. "Oh heya Naruto." She said simply.

"Did I catch you at a bad time?" He said taking in her appearance.

She stared at him a moment, before she realized what he asked. "Oh! Um hehe sorry." She laughed. "Please come in if you'd like! I just need to go get dressed."

"Take your time Ryuko." He said following her in and sitting down at her table. She quickly moved off to her bedroom, and proceeded to get dressed. When she came back in, she smiled at her boyfriend.

"Did you eat anything yet?"

"Yeah I ate when I woke up, thank you though. Seems you slept in too huh?" He questioned. She sat down and began finishing her meal.

"Yeah really late." She said with a laugh. "You were probably up before even I was."

"Heh, it's possible. So did you have any plans today?"

"I have team training around four this afternoon, but otherwise no." She responded.

"Hmm that gives us three hours then, if you want to do something. Kakashi-sensei wanted me to come by and train with him at twelve."

"Yes, I'd love to spend some time together."

"Perfect, what do you want to do?" He asked.

"Maybe we could just take a walk through the village, and see what we come across?" She suggested.

"Sure."

With that the two made their way out of the house, and strolled through the village. As they walked they conversed about the war, and about the missions Ryuko's team had been taking. They continued through the village, finding random things to do, and stopping in different stores.

* * *

"Oh, how nice of you to come by, Naruto."

"Nice to see you, Kaka-Sensei." Naruto said with a wave and a smile. "So you wanna spar or what?" After Jiraiya had informed Kakashi of the threat of the Akatsuki, he had began to train himself to new levels, along with his team. The masked jounin knew he was strong, but he was also man enough to admit, that every member of the Akatsuki had had him outclassed at the time. But he had come a long way, and Kakashi was now worth every bit of the title of an S-rank nin.

He had trained himself hard alongside Naruto. He knew he couldn't afford to be sloppy or weak if the Akatsuki came knocking on Konohagakure's front door. He had decided he would be ready. He didn't want to have a repeat of the Itachi incident. He had increased his chakra reserves by quite a lot, and the man could now throw around all of those jutsu Obito's eye had helped him acquire. He had burned himself out some days even. He had worked hard, and in the end, it had indeed paid off.

"Well let's see how you do against me today, Naruto."

The two stood about fifty yards away from each other, staring the other down. Naruto threw a rock into the air, and both of their bodies tensed. The rock hit the ground and bounced, and before it could touch the ground again, Naruto had slammed into Kakashi. The masked jounin caught the handstand kick aimed at his face, throwing the boy away. Said blond regained his footing, and began weaving hand signs, "Water Style: Raging Waves!" He called, and a massive rush of water bulldozed it's way toward Kakashi.

"Earth Style: Earth Style Wall!" A wall of bricked earth rose from the ground, stopping Naruto's jutsu in its tracks. "Earth Style: Earthquake Slam!" He called out, and the ground ripped apart like a blender, moving towards the blond shinobi. Naruto flickered to life behind the jounin, he spun both legs around in a handstand, in an attempt catch him with two kicks to the abdomen. Both missed as Kakashi twisted himself around the blond, bringing a hard punch straight to the blonds back. Only to hit air.

He had flickered across the clearing and when Kakashi locked his eye on him, Naruto was already weaving hand signs. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" He yelled, a massive torrent of wind ripping through the training ground, kicking up dust as it went.

Kakashi also flew through a set of seals, and called out. "Fire Style: Great Fireball jutsu!" A giant flame roared to life, and it overtook the wind, and used it as fuel. Kakashi's eye widened as a kunai burst through his fireball. After it got past the flames, but about ten feet from Kakashi, it burst in a puff of smoke to reveal a shadow clone. Said clone smirked, and then substituted with its original. When the real Naruto appeared, he had a huge grin on his face, and his hands were forming the last seal in a chain of hand signs. "Water Style: Raging Waves!"

If the masked jounin was honest, he was caught completely off guard. The move the blond had just executed had been completely unexpected. The wash of water grabbed the jounin and threw him to the ground harshly.

"Well Naruto, I truly am impressed. That was an impressive move. I honestly hadn't expected that. You truly have become a frightening shinobi." The legendary nin laughed aloud. "But it's time I end this." He said as he weaved hand seals, before he called out his jutsu. "Summoning: Earth Style: Tracking Fang Technique!"

The ninken tore through the ground below them, and they burst out beside Naruto, grabbing on before he could really understand what was happening. One of the biggest hounds almost bit straight through his metal arm protector, but not a single one of the dogs drew blood. But Naruto knew if he moved, they would.

The blond sighed loudly before laughing. The masked man flickered to life behind the boy, holding a kunai to his throat. The white haired man eye smiled, a memory popping into his head before he spoke. "You can't beat me. You lose, Naruto."

"Damn so close." The chunin said before he smiled at his Sensei. "That was a good match Kakashi-Sensei."

The ninken suddenly disappeared in a burst of smoke, and the two shinobi faced each other. "That it was, you did great Naruto. Kushina would be proud."

"Thank you Kaka-Sensei." The blond smiled at him, happy at the mention of his mother. "Don't worry Sensei, I'll beat you soon." Kakashi reached out and ruffled the boy's hair.

"I'm sure you will." He said with an eye smile.

* * *

Three and a half months later found Naruto and Ryuko on a very special date. The two had grown extremely close, and spent a lot of their off time together.

"Come on Ryuko, follow me it'll be fun!" He said running off with her hand in his.

"Okay, okay! I'm coming." She said laughing. "But where are we going?"

"You'll see, it's a surprise!" He laughed, before he spun around and put his hands over her eyes. "Now hold on tight, and don't peak."

"Fine. But I can keep my eyes closed myself thank you."

"Alright fair." He replied as she wrapped her arms around him and held on. He quickly flickered them both to the top of his unknown father's head. "Alright open your eyes." Naruto told the cute girl.

Ryuko's eyes peeled open, and what she saw stunned her. Before the two of them, sat a well prepared picnic. Exclusively done just for her, with everything she could possibly like to eat. Candles illuminated the space they occupied, and it was just after sunset. The lights of the village made it glow with an absolutely untouchable beauty.

The young woman was blow away by the extent the blond had gone to, just to prepare an amazing date for her. She turned to him quickly, and placed her head against his chest. "Thank you, Naruto. I can't believe you did all of this just for me."

"For you? Of course." He replied with a smile. His cheeks flushed and he was caught completely off guard when she pushed away the bangs from one side of his face, and kissed his cheek.

"Seriously Naru, thank you." If possible, the blond got even redder at the nickname.

"Of course, now let's eat?" He asked.

"Yes please!" She said happily in response. The two then sat, and began eating. They enjoyed their time together, and they joked and laughed for a large part of the night. Eventually they sat atop Minato's stone head, in complete silence, her head leaned against his shoulder. But with a almost sad sigh, Naruto broke the silence.

"Ryuko….there's something I've needed and wanted to tell you for a while. I thought maybe I could hide it, but that wouldn't be fair."

"Naruto, what are you talking about?" The girl asked, a concerned and questioning look on her face.

"You remember, learning about the Nine Tails attack thirteen years ago, right?" He questioned.

"Of course I do. What of it?" Her face became even more concerned and confused.

"It was told to us, the the Fourth Hokage beat the beast, and ridded the village of it, but it was never told to us, just _how _he did that. We all just assumed, that he killed it, at the cost of his own life."

"Well yes….that's what happened?"

"And that is the truth, except it isn't. The Nine Tails is a Tailed Beast. And you cannot kill a Tailed Beast. They would only reform. So the Fourth saw one option. He sealed that bastard fox into a new born baby boy. That boy was the son of Uzumaki Kushina, and he still holds that bastard fox to this day. I am the son of Kushina, and I am the jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox."

"Naruto…..you poor thing." She said, shocking him to his core as she wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. "So that's why people look at you so harshly. Why they say such terrible things about you. It must have been so difficult for you. I'm so sorry Naruto."

"Y-you don't hate me?" He asked barely able to contemplate that it didn't bother her in the least.

"Of course not!" She yelled, slapping him on the back of the head. "Do you really think I could care about you like this, and just throw that away because you have some monster sealed away inside you?!"

"Thank you...Ryuko."

"Shut up idiot." She commanded. She pushed a bang away from his face, and for the first time, she kissed him on the lips. His eyes went wide at the feeling, before he slowly melted into it. He wrapped his arms around her, and after they broke away, they sat together for another few hours.

* * *

Naruto awoke in his bed. At least he thought it was his bed, until he realized it wasn't his room. His eyes went wide, and he sucked in a breath as he realized the mop of black and red hair sleeping beside him was Ryuko. "_Oh that's right I remember now." _The boy thought.

The girl had fallen asleep with him atop the monument, and he had carried her home. When he had laid her in her bed, he had immediately moved to leave. As he did, she had grabbed his arm and asked him to stay with her. They had cuddled up and fallen asleep. They hadn't done anything but shared the bed and cuddled. He was extremely happy with this girl. She just made his life a lot better.

He had a mission with Kakashi-Sensei later that day, so being extra careful not to wake her, he left the bed and began to cook them breakfast. He made eggs with toast, and also had a shadow clone run to the nearby store and buy some bacon, quickly cooking that as well.

He walked quietly into her room and gently shook the girl's shoulder. "Ryuko...wake up. I made breakfast."

She stirred lightly. "You made...breakfast…? Thank you...Naruto." As the post sleep haze left her body, she began to take in the fact that Naruto had stayed with her that night, and smiled.

"Want me to carry you downstairs, Ryuko?"

She responded with a smile and extended her arms out to him. She quickly motioned for him to pick her up. Once he had her fully in her arms, she leaned up and quickly pecked him on the lips. "You're amazing Naru."

He smiled down at the girl in his arms as he carried her. "So are you, Ryu." The girl flushed red at the new nickname, but smiled widely. They then ate breakfast together, simply enjoying each other's company.

"So Naruto, what would you like for your birthday?"

"For my birthday?" He asked confused.

"Naruto, it's the first of October today, you've got nine days left until you're fifteen." She said laughing.

"Oh shit! It is. Wow I can't believe I just forgot, and I guess what I want for my birthday is to just spend more time with you."

"You're too cute Naru."

"I'm not cute. I'm a strong, badass, handsome ninja. Not cute." He replied with a pout.

Ryuko simply laughed in reply.

* * *

Naruto's birthday party was awesome. Held at Ryuko's house, everyone came. The remnants of Team Seven, all of Teams, Two, Eight, Ten, Twelve, and Team Guy attended. Minus the sensei. Although Kakashi did stop by, he'd gotten Naruto a new set of metal arm protectors, considering his original ones were quite worn.

Eventually most attendees had left, leaving Ryuko, the rest of her team, Rikka, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Naruto. The blond and Kiba had become fairly close friends, with Sasuke gone, Naruto had needed a new sparring partner, and as much as he liked Lee, the bowl cut boy was just too over the top to spar with everyday. Rikka and Naruto had become close friends as well, she spent a lot of time with him and Ryuko.

The group was now perched around the center of the room, where Naruto and Shikamaru sat on the floor, playing an intense game of shogi with the new set the Nara boy had gotten Naruto.

"Your move Shikamaru." Naruto said smugly. The room sat in silence, as the second chunin sat and thought of a strategy.

"Here." He said finally moving a piece on the board.

"So I heard that Iwa has been poking around the edge of Grass country, it's really starting to rile up the Kusa nin." Kiba piped in.

"Really? That can't be good." Naruto said before moving his own piece. "Try to get past this." He said idly.

"Yeah mom said it could get serious. But I hear Lord Jiraiya might have some dirt on Iwa that we can use to keep them in their hole for a while."

"Leave it to Jiraiya-Sensei to have dirt on entire countries." Naruto laughed.

"Your turn, Naruto." The Nara said, finally moving his piece.

"It still makes me mad that you and Sakura get to train under Sannin. That's just not fair!" The feral boy complained.

"Kiba I don't know why you think you can't get just as strong if you work hard enough."

"I know that but still! It's not fair you just randomly get a Sannin to teach you."

"Your move Shika." Naruto said, after studying the board a moment and moving a piece. "Listen I don't know why Jiraiya-Sensei picked me, but he did and I'm not going to complain y'know."

"Ugh whatever." Kiba said before laughing. "You down for a spar tomorrow?"

"Of course I am." The jinchuriki replied.

"Are you stupid?" Rikka asked suddenly.

"Eh!?" Naruto replied, caught off guard by her sudden question.

"I said, are you stupid? You have a mission with my team tomorrow. With our Sensei out you were assigned to lead us on another delivery mission to Suna."

"Oh." He replied chuckling. "I guess I sort of forgot."

"How can you just forget important missions Naruto. You're supposed to be a chunin after all." Shikamaru cut in. "Your move, Uzumaki."

"Hey man I've been running so many missions lately I can hardly keep track of where one ends, and the next begins." He countered, before making his counter move on the board as well. "Five." He then said suddenly.

Everyone in the room stared at him blankly. The waited for him to continue, but his mouth remained shut. They all stared for another minute. Before Kiba finally broke the silence. "Five what?"

"I'll have you beat in five moves Shika. And there's nothing you can do about it either."

Kiba immediately spoke up. "What? There's no way, what the hel-." He was cut off when Shikamaru finally spoke up.

"Ah damn. It's seems you win." He then sighed loudly. "I just can never read your moves."

"What!?" Came Kiba's voice. "You beat Shikamaru that quickly!?"

"He tends to win every other game, Kiba." The Nara boy said.

"Shikamaru….there's one problem with your strategic ability. You always assume there's a plan or strategy to someone's moves. But once in a while, you come across people like me. Sure I can pull crazy strategies and battle plans out of my skull, but sometimes I really just go with the flow. Sometimes I fight purely on action, and reaction. Nothing else. Unpredictability is your weakest point. So you need to expect the unexpected, and look underneath the underneath." Naruto said to the Nara. He smiled lightly remembering when Kakashi had first told him that phrase.

At this point Kiba's brain had fried, he really hadn't ever been exposed to how intelligent Naruto really could be. That said, it threw the Inuzuka off quite a bit. Shikamaru on the other hand, sat and thought about Naruto's words. Meanwhile the two girls and Naruto began setting up a card game at the kitchen table. After Shika and Kiba came back from their heads, they joined the others.

After a few card games, the others took off, leaving only the birthday boy and the homeowner alone. For his last present, Ryuko gave him a lengthy make out session, and Naruto happily accepted. Before they went to sleep Ryuko said one last thing to Naruto. "Happy fifteenth birthday Naru."

* * *

Two days later found Naruto and Team Twelve at the Hokage tower. "Jounin Kanagaki. You and your team, accompanied by chunin Uzumaki will be going on a patrol in Grass country. We've strengthened our ties with Kusagakure quite a bit since the chunin exam incident. They have been contributing in the hunt for Orochimaru, but they currently have a man power shortage. You will run a patrol route along the border of Grass and Earth. Understood?"

"Yes Ma'am!" Came the chorus from the nin.

"Good then move out." The Hokage said, turning back to her paperwork.

* * *

A days travel landed the group in Grass country, where they had stayed in a hotel in Kusagakure, as their patrol was scheduled for the next day. They had woken early, and quickly made their way to the border of the Land of Earth.

About four hours into their patrol they stopped to rest. Aiko was looking intently at a map, before his face scrunched up in worry. "Sensei, I think we may have crossed into Earth country by accident."

"What?" Asked the tall female sensei of Team Twelve. She had mid length aquamarine hair, and wore the standard Konoha jounin outfit.

"Yeah look here Sensei, about six miles back, we would have definitely crossed into Earth country, we should have taken this route instead." He said pointing to a line on the map.

"Harumi-Sensei, isn't it bad for us to be in Earth country unannounced?" Asked Roku, who was now slightly worried. Iwagakure was _not _and allied village, and they very much did not like Konoha nin in any way.

"Kanagaki, they right we really shouldn't be here then." Naruto said to the jounin. Earth country was the last place Konohagakure nin should be.

"Yeah, you definitely shouldn't be here." A voice echoed out. "You're trespassing in Earth country, and as an Iwa nin, I have a responsibility to stop any trespassers. But you guys are Konohagakure nin, and this is taken as an act of aggression. You are all sentenced to death." The large man now before them said. He was huge, just massively tall, and he was heavily armored. He wore the Iwagakure steam armour, with a furnace attached to the back. Aside from his red armour, he also wore a red kasa, that was made from the same material as his armour.

"Oh shit." Naruto said. "That's Han, The jinchuriki of the Five Tails. Also known as the Jinchuriki of the Steam Release." He had recognized the shinobi from the bingo book. "Fuck. We are so fucked."

"No matter. You kids go I'll deal with him while you run."

"No, Kanagaki he'll bulldoze you before you have a chance. This guy fought through two wars. He's extremely strong."

"Naruto take them and go!" Ordered the jounin, as she drew her sword. She leapt towards the man, only for her eyes to widen in shock at his speed. The massive steaming jinchuriki tore through the jounin, and left nothing but red paste behind.

"Sensei!" Yelled the twins, who in anger began to charge the brute man.

"No! Don't you'll die!" Yelled Naruto. He knew he need to gather the team and get them out of there as quickly as possible. "Come back! That's an order!"

He watched in horror as the massive jinchuriki bulldozed the twins, killing one instantly, and when the other tried to crawl away, he stomped on the boy's neck. Han's crushing waves of killing intent washed over Naruto. He made Zabuza look like a genin. His killing intent was almost as great as the tailed beast he held. And here it was all focused on the blond chunin.

Ryuko stared in shock. "Roku! Aiko!" She screamed.

"Come on Ryuko we have to go! Right now! Ryuko!" She began to run toward the dead twins, she had to try to save them. "Ryuko! Please! Come on!"

She had to try, they couldn't be dead. Her medical ninjutsu could save them, she knew it could. She didn't even register her boyfriend's desperate plea.

"Ryuko!"

* * *

_**Our boy is in some trouble now! Talk about a cliffhanger! Any of you wondering why Kanagaki jumped in like that, it was because she didn't have any actual knowledge about Han. Let's just say she wasn't the best of jounin. Btw, a very awesome artist on deviantart did a render of Ryuko, and it's awesome! It's up on my Twitter DarlingintheFo1. Please at least go check out the photo! Anyway, see ya next time! Darling in the Fox out!**_

_** /DarlingintheFo1**_


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

_**Heyo welcome back once again. Left you with a cliffhanger last time, so I hope you're excited. I stayed up late editing this just so I could put it out for you guys. Anyways, back to the story…...**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did I wouldn't have to go to work.**_

"Ryuko! No! Don't!" The massive jinchuriki turned toward the boy's girlfriend and Naruto knew what was about to happen. He drew from the Nine Tails chakra, and poured everything he had into a single body flicker. He appeared aside her just in time. Just in time to watch the bulky jinchuriki punch his arm through the girl's chest. Blood burst out from around his forearm as it ripped straight through her with pure force alone.

The boy collapsed to his knees as he watched the elder jinchuriki withdrawal his arm from his girlfriend's chest. He was in shock, completely catatonic, his chest hurt, this couldn't be happening. How, how could this happen.

"Your turn brat."

Naruto's expression was blank and he couldn't move his body at all.

"This is it for you, Konoha scum."

Naruto couldn't think straight, he was stricken with grief and anger. How could she die. Why was he alone again. He wanted this man to pay. But what could he do against him.

"**Come to me boy. I can give you your revenge, we will kill him, and destroy everything he loves. He will feel the pain you feel now."** A deep voice echoed through his head.

Naruto suddenly found himself in front of the Nine-Tails' cage. He felt so hollow. What was left for him at this point. What was he even doing all this time. It was all so useless.

"**Come boy, remove this seal... I will take away all of your pain. You won't have to feel it anymore."  
**  
"Can you... can you really make it all go away?"

"**Yes...now rip away this accursed seal."  
**  
Han was sweating. Hard. The last thing he had expected was for this boy to be a jinchuriki let alone that of the Nine-Tails, this was bad. The boy was already up to the six tailed form. The younger jinchuriki was tossing him around like a rag doll. It was likely his beast had taken complete control of him. He didn't know if he could keep this up.

Han was never one for using jutsu. He mostly used his boil release to bolster his taijutsu, however desperate times called for desperate measures. He channeled the chakra of the Five Tails, gathering as much as he could, and he ripped through hand seals . The other jinchuriki was at seven tails already. "Earth Style: Sandwich Jutsu!" Two enormous rock formations formed on either side of the rampaging jinchuriki, closing in on it with tremendous force, and smashing the beast caught in between.

Han sighed in relief as it crushed the enemy. He had been worried. His eyes went wide. "_No way."_ He thought. "_This is bad"_. The almost complete form of the ninetails ripped through the earth with a mighty roar. "Fuck me." He said aloud, struck with fear and awe at the power of the Nine Tailed Fox. It had completely negated his most powerful jutsu, and it wasn't even at the full nine yet.

Naruto lifted his hand to the seal and began to pull. There was nothing left for him here. That Iwa jinchuriki had just taken that from him. "**Remove the seal boy!"** A hand caught his arm, and tossed him to the water a bit away from the cage. A figure landed in front of the boy, hand extended to help him up.

Taking the hand the boy stood with the assistance of the figure. He stared at the man, who he idly thought looked a lot like himself, before fully realizing exactly _who_ it was. "F-Fourth Hokage."

The deceased Hokage looked back at him. "I worked it into the seal, that I would appear in your psyche, if it ever unraveled to the point that you had sprouted the eighth tail. Truth be told, I'd hoped that it would never come to this, since I'd hoped to never have to see you again, Nine Tails."

The massive fox responded with a mighty roar as the man looked back at it, before he turned back to the boy. "But then I was looking forward to seeing the young man that my son had now become. I guess it evens out."

"**Fourth Hokage! Come here! I'll tear you apart!"** The massive beast roared.

"Well if that's the case, then I think I'll just stay over here. Wouldn't you agree, Naruto?"

"Wait, why do you know my name?"

"I know because I named you, because the truth is, you are my son."

The boy began to laugh loudly tears beginning to spring from his eyes.

A massive roar interrupted the two. "**Fourth Hokage!" **

"He's still as rowdy as he was the day I sealed him. Let's go somewhere quieter huh?" The blond man snapped his fingers, and he and the boy appeared in a clean, open area inside Naruto's psyche.

"Hiruzen didn't tell you much of anything huh? If people had known you were my son, you'd have been in extreme danger. I had quite a lot of enemies." The man smiled lightly at the young man before him.

"Dad..." Minato experienced a shooting pain expanding from his stomach as his son rammed his fist into his gut. "Why!? Why would you ever seal that damn thing inside of me!? I'm your son! How could you!? Do you even understand what kind of things I went through because of it!? All of the villagers looked at me with contempt and fear! I couldn't make any friends! I just wanted people to accept me! Or at the very least not hate me!"

The boy was screaming now, tears falling down his face. Minato could see the pained expression that consumed his son.

"Then I met Iruka-sensei. He taught me so much, he made me take my training seriously. I made friends with Sasuke and Kiba, even Shika and Choji! I was friends with most in my class! I even tied for Rookie of the Year with Sasuke! Sasuke, Sakura, and I were all put on Team Seven, under your student Kakashi. I was so happy! Then this group called the Akatsuki comes after me, and I find out they want the Nine Tails! Now I have to deal with knowing I have a group of S-Rank missing nin after me, and that puts everyone I love in danger!"

Minato couldn't help but feel his chest tighten at his son's words. Seeing what he had caused. He really was a shit father. He wished he could have done more.

"We've been at war with Otogakure, and I finally found a girlfriend! A girl actually liked me! And I liked her! I think I loved her! I was happy I could be on a mission with her. It was a routine patrol, but it ran along the Iwa border. And we ran into the jinchuriki of the Five Tails! We'd accidentally crossed the border, and he killed her team in seconds! And he killed her right in front of me! I watched her die damnit!"

The boy ran his hands through his hair showing the extreme mental stress he was experiencing, with such a simple movement. "I don't even know what I'm saying anymore! I just lost my girlfriend." Minato held back a tear seeing his son like this.

"Naruto, how old are you now?"

"I'm fifteen..."

"Ah I see fifteen already. It must have been hard for you. I'm sorry, my son. Though I suppose it's not worth much, me apologizing now. After everything I put you through."

"No, it's fine. After all I'm the son of the Fourth Hokage. I'll deal. Ya know, I...I'd had my suspicions, a-and I'd had these crazy ideas, that maybe you could be my dad. The one man I looked up to more than any other... but I'd always thought, that no, I couldn't be the son of someone so great."

"It's true, you are my son. Since you asked, I sealed half of the Nine Tails inside you, because I believed you could either use the extra chakra, or maybe one day master it's power. I did it because you're my son. Though, I suppose how you choose to be a ninja is up to you." Minato's face became serious.

"Fifteen years before now, when the Nine Tails attacked the village, I learned something. A man orchestrated the whole thing. He was a formidable shinobi, he possessed the Rinnegan eye. I believe he will attack the leaf once again."

"Father...was it the Nine Tails or the man, that killed mom?"

Minato's eyes went wide. "You know of your mother?"

"That was the one thing old man Sarutobi told me about."

"I see, I suppose I have time. Not much but enough. The man with the Rinnegan, he had a jutsu to extract the Nine Tails. Your mother, Kushina, she was the jinchuriki before you were. He showed up and ripped it from her after your birth. He put the Nine Tails under some sort of genjutsu. He is the mastermind behind the Akatsuki. Between keeping you and your mother safe, fighting him, and the Nine Tails, I was stretched to thin. I-I couldn't do it all. I wasn't strong enough to protect our family. You're mother desperately wanted for me not to seal the beast inside you, as she knew what you would go through. But we had to save the village, and preserve the balance. For that I am sorry Naruto. It makes me wonder why he chose to use the fox to attack. Maybe he wanted me out of the way, it's possible." Minato felt a pang in his heart, thinking of the way things might have been if he had been stronger.

Minato looked at his son, sadness filling his eyes. "I tried so hard just to protect you but I failed. Because of my failure, you've lived this pain filled life. I made a sacrifice, and forced a bigger sacrifice on you."

"Father?"

"Yes?"

"I forgive you." The boy smiled up at the man. "I could never blame you for thinking of the village as your family. I want to protect it too. There's so much hate in this world. I want to fix that. But I've also seen what we are as people. And that to me means no matter what, the village and my family come first. I'd love to work with the other villages to find peace, but if they intend to hurt my family, my village, then I will have no choice but to stop them. I don't ever want to not be fast enough again."

Minato smiled down at the boy. "You have something important to protect my son. As much as I also wanted peace, I too felt hate, and I killed without so much of a second thought. This is our life, and I trust you to forge ahead Naruto."

Minato placed his hand upon his son's head. "I entrust the Will of Fire to you kiddo. Be the next step in finding peace, even if you cannot find it yourself. I know you can protect the village and all of your loved ones."

"You think I can protect them all? Do you think I can be that strong?"

Minato ruffled the boy's hair, smiling down at him. "Of course I do! I believe in you completely! It's a parents duty to have unconditional faith in their child."

The older blond pulled his hand away, seeing it start to fade. "I have to go now, Naruto. My chakra is beginning to fade."

"Wha- no you can't go yet!"

The elder man smiled. "I'll rebuild the seal now, but this will be the last time I can. Steel your will. And be strong my son. I believe in you. I love you, and so does your mother. Forever and always, my son."

The boy cried again smiling at his father. "I love you too dad. If you can, tell mom the same."

"Of course if I can I will, and Naruto. Tell Jiraiya-sensei, to take you to my northern safe house. You said you don't ever want to not be fast enough again, so that place holds that very ability son." And with that Minato faded away, and Naruto steeled his resolve once more.

"Northern safe house, got it. Goodbye, Father." Naruto said aloud.

His eyes snapped open. Seeing the Five Tails jinchuriki crouched before him, exhaustion evident in his body language. The man craned his neck to look at the blond. "I hate you. I hate you with every fiber of my being, Han. The jinchuriki of the Steam release. But I won't take revenge. That's not who I am. However, if you ever attack Konohagakure or my fellow Konoha shinobi again, I won't hesitate to strike you down."

He walked away from the man, following the route of destruction he had caused when in his jinchuriki state. He found the location of the original ambush. He sealed away the bodies of the jounin and the twins in a scroll. At least he could take their bodies back for a proper funeral.

He then turned to the lifeless body of his girlfriend. He crouched before her. Staring blankly at her limo form. She was dead. It hurt, a lot. He was still so mad. But this wasn't the time and he was still in enemy territory. "I'm sorry Ryuko...I wasn't strong enough...more than that, I wasn't _fast _enough." He cried silently for a few moments before picking her up bridal style and looking to the sky. "I'm sorry Ryuko..." With that Naruto was gone. Rapidly flickering back to Grass Country and later Konohagakure, her body held gently in his arms.

* * *

Kotetsu and Izumo were currently playing a card game, trying to pass the time during their gate guard duty. They suddenly heard heavy, shaking breathing, and Izumo stood to check it out. As he exited the guard shack, he was greeted with the sight of a physically exhausted Naruto, covered in blood, and holding a girl in his arms. "Naruto!? Are you okay? Kotetsu, go get help!"

"Right! Yelled the second chunin, flickering off.

Izumo ran over, as Naruto collapsed to his knees. "Naruto, what happened?"

Naruto looked up at the chunin slowly. Izumo took in the sight of the exhaustion gripping the boy's face. The red puffy eyes from what must have been a days worth of crying. The sadness and guilt was evident in the boy's expression. "I-I was-wasn't." He said choking in a sob. Along the way home, having so much time alone to his own thoughts, even the reassurance Minato had placed in him couldn't keep the boy from turning into and emotional wreck. "I wasn't f-fast enough…." He began to fully sob for about a minute, before the exhaustion caught up with him, and the boy passed out.

* * *

Naruto had been in the hospital for two weeks. After he had given his report on the events of the mission, he had locked himself down completely. He'd left everything about his father and the Nine Tails out. The boy had simply said that after she died he had blacked out. He hadn't spoken since. He couldn't stop thinking about how he could have saved her, how he could've been faster. She plagued his dreams, so he barely slept. He hadn't been eating other than the food Tsunade literally had to force him to consume.

A knock at the door moved Naruto's empty, blank gaze from the ceiling to the door. The door handle turned, and Iruka walked in. "Naruto…." The boy stared at his first mentor blankly. The scarred chunin approached the bed and sat beside it. "How about we go get a bowl of ramen? My treat?"

"Sensei….." he spoke for the first time in two weeks. His voice was a raspy, jumbled mess. "Why do we form bonds…. if it hurts this much when they break?"

"Naruto…" The scarred man had no answer. The boy lay still. His eyes shifted back to the ceiling, and the only thing he could see was her, with a massive hole through the chest. The twisting and pain inside his stomach from the thought was almost unbearable.

"Naruto, you can't stay in here forever. It's so unlike you to sit here like this. Is this what Ryuko would want you to do?"

"Of course not. But I can't move myself. Even when a small part of me says, hey get up, I can't. I feel like my... will is broken."

Iruka sat the boy up in his bed, before turning around in the gesture of offering a piggyback ride. "Here, get on. For today I will be your will, Naruto." The blond stared at his sensei a moment before he nodded solemnly. He slowly and sluggishly climbed onto Iruka's back.

"Ramen…" He whispered.

"Of course."

After they ate in silence, Naruto asked Iruka to take him to Ryuko's home. It would be foreclosed soon enough, considering her death, but he wanted to stay the just a little while. As the chunin set Naruto in a chair in the kitchen, he began to make tea. "Naruto….what...what happened?" The man finally asked.

Immediately Naruto's eyes darkened in sadness. "I-I wasn't fast enough Iruka-Sensei. She died and I watched from mere inches away. I couldn't stop it. I gave everything I had, to be as fast as I could and I was still to slow." He immediately broke down into a full sobbing mess. He could barely even stay seated.

Iruka quickly ran over and caught the boy as he fell from his seat. "Naruto… it's alright...it'll be okay." The man said as Naruto buried his face in Iruka's chunin vest, and _sobbed_. "It'll be alright, I promise. I know it hurts, but eventually that pain fades, and it may always hurt, but you can't let it overtake you."

"Y-y-yeah…." The boy stuttered our through sobs. Eventually the boy fell asleep as his surrogate brother/father/first friend held him. Iruka picked the boy up, and carried him up the stairs, laying him in the bed.

Iruka had placed a blanket over the boy, and made his way downstairs. He drank a cup of tea, hanging around to see if Naruto awoke. Once he was confident the boy would remain asleep, he made his way to the door. "_Kakashi can speak to him on a much more personal level when it comes to this...as much as I want to help...this might be something only Kakashi can do." _He thought as he left the house.

* * *

The next day, around twelve o'clock Naruto awoke to the smell of bacon and eggs. He shot up in bed, it couldn't be. "_Ryuko!?" _He thought, as he bolted down the stairs into the kitchen, only to find his sensei standing there, fresh bacon and eggs cooked and set out on the table. Even a freshly made pot of coffee was ready.

"Naruto...have a seat."

"Yeah." He said sitting at the table.

"I heard all about it. And I read the report. Naruto…. you can't keep yourself locked up in here. It's not even your own house."

"This is all I have…..her smell is here...our memories are here. I just want her to be here. I just want her back."

"Naruto….in this life style, in the shinobi world… you're going to watch a lot of comrades die."

"Kakashi…. I can't stop seeing her. The image of that man's hand through her fucking chest is burned into my mind. When I dream I see her, except she turns her head, and she asks me why I didn't save her. Why wasn't I better. I'm supposed to be a skilled shinobi, I'm supposed to be fast, so what the fuck is wrong with me." He said through gritted teeth as his emotions took hold, and his anger bubbled to the surface.

"Why!? Why was it her!? Why did she have to die!? It should've been me! She was special! She was perfect! Why her!" He screamed, standing quickly and slamming his hand into the table.

"Naruto….do you know why I stand at that memorial stone everyday?"

"...No Sensei."

"Minato-Sensei, his team, my team. We were the generation of Team Seven that came before you." Kakashi said with a sigh, as he set a cup of coffee before Naruto. He sat at the table across from the boy and continued. "I had a friend named Obito Uchiha….he was a lot like the younger you. He wanted to be Hokage...he was loud and brash, and a total idiot. But like you, he cared immensely for his friends. Me, I was a lot like Sasuke. I was cold to those around me, I thought that, to be a shinobi meant to follow the rules." Kakashi explained.

Naruto stared intently at the man, he was now fully absorbed in the white haired jounin's story. Kakashi sighed and looked down before he continued. "Obito taught me that phrase I told you when you became genin. Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum."

"I'm sorry Sensei, but I don't get where you're going with this."

"I'm getting there. Be patient please, Naruto. Anyway, Obito died the same day he taught me that. My first and best friend died, because I wasn't strong enough, and if I hadn't been so self absorbed with the rules, he would still be around. I wish he could be the one to train you. Not me. But I made one promise to Obito when he died. I would protect our teammate Rin."

"I've never met her, so I'd assume that…."

"Yeah….. you're right. But…..you see Naruto, I killed Rin." Naruto's eyes, which had been locked on the cup of coffee in front of him, shot up to stare at Kakashi. "With Obito's eye, I watched as my hand burst from her chest, the same way you watched Ryuko." The masked jounin explained the whole mission to the blond, all the details of Rin's death.

"But it's not your fault Sensei."

"Just like it isn't yours." Naruto made to argue, but he realized his sensei was right. He had just put himself through all of the pain he had gone through as a child, just to prove a point to Naruto.

"So, I'm guessing you knew?"

"Knew what Naruto?"

"About my dad. He was your sensei after all." Upon hearing the words leave the boy's mouth, Kakashi's lone eye widened in surprise.

"How...how did you find out?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you, but I ask you keep it a secret from the Hokage. I'm dealing with enough right now. I promise I'll tell Jiraiya-Sensei soon and have him tell her."

"Alright then kiddo, I promise." The jounin said, and Naruto began to fill him in about meeting his father. He left out the parts about the man with the Rinnegan.

"I see. I'm glad he got to meet you Naruto. He loved you very much." Kakashi said, staring at the table a moment. "I told Lord Third, that the only way I would take a genin team, was if you were on it. I wanted to train you, the same way sensei trained me."

A long pause filled the room, the student and teacher sitting in silence before Naruto spoke. "Sensei…..?"

"Yeah?"

"What does it mean? What does it mean to be a shinobi?"

"To be a shinobi huh?" Kakashi stood, walking to the kitchen window. He stared out at the midday sun. "A shinobi is one who endures. I don't know why I haven't given up. But Obito would never forgive me if I did. And I'm sure Ryuko wouldn't be to happy if you did either, Naruto."

"Sensei….thank you."

"Of course. If you ever need to talk Naruto….you know where to find me."

"Yes sir." And with that Kakashi was gone, leaving Naruto alone to his thoughts. Eventually he cleaned the house up. He collected all of his things, and put his gear on. As he left the building, he closed the door to the house for the last time. He took his things and dropped them at his home before heading to the training ground.

"_One who endures huh?" _He thought it himself. "_Never again, will I not be fast enough. I will become the fastest shinobi on this planet."_ He quickly began training his body flicker. He would make it as fast as possible. And once he did that, he would finish the resistance seals, and he would make his physical speed second to none.

Anyone who walked by this training ground over the course of the next month would be greeted by a blond boy disappearing, and reappearing all around the clearing. He moved almost nonstop, training all day until he dropped. When he awoke he would start anew.

* * *

At the end of his month, his resistance seals had him to the point, that if released he was on par with fifth gate Lee. The only problem was Naruto had completely thrown himself into his training. He hardly slept, and was just going nonstop. Finally one of his friends had decided to take action. She couldn't stand this any more. She was sad over Ryuko's death as well, but she knew the boy blamed himself.

"Naruto."

"Hey."

"Stop for a minute."

"I can't I've got to get faste-."

"Shut up. Come here and listen."

"Fine." He said appearing before the girl, staring into her red eyes.

"Naruto. It's not your fault."

"Rikka….I wasn't fast enou-." He was cut off immediately by a loud echoing slap. She grabbed him and hugged him.

"I miss her too, she was my best friend. But it's not your fault." Rikka said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"If I'd have been fas-." Once again Naruto found himself cut off by a slap.

"Shut up. She chose to be a ninja, she chose to try to save the twins. And she chose you. And she would never want you to destroy yourself like this Naruto. You can't keep this up, it's literally stupid."

"Rikka….if I-."

"Are you stupid?"

"Huh?" He asked, that had caught him off guard.

"Are you stupid?" She said looking him in the eyes. "Ryuko wouldn't want to see you doing this to yourself. If she was here, right now, she would tell you the same things I'm saying. Forgive yourself Naruto. Forgive yourself and move forward."

Naruto looked to the ground in shame, he new she was right. His father had told him to steel his will. And now, Rikka, Iruka, and Kakashi were all telling him the same thing. It was time to move forward. "Thank you...Rikka."

"Of course. Now I have a mission, so go home and sleep, eat, and for kami's sake take a shower. You smell." She said laughing as she walked away.

* * *

Later that night, Rikka stopped by Naruto's apartment to check up on him. She still had Ryuko's spare key, she had planned to return it, but she heard screaming from inside the house. In moments, the girl had the door opened and was trying to find the source.

"Ryuko! Ryuko please! Please don't go! I'm sorry I couldn't save you! I'm sorry!" The screaming was loud, and coming from the bedroom. Rikka quickly ran in, and what she saw saddened her. Her heart hurt from the loss of her best friend. And now her heart hurt for the poor boy she was currently looking at.

Naruto was kicking and thrashing in his bed. It was clear a strong nightmare had a grip on his mind. He screamed her name, and cursed everything he could. She was very surprised such a nightmare hadn't woken him up. But she guessed from his lack of sleep, his body was too exhausted to wake.

She quickly jumped atop his bed. She straddled him and grabbed his face. "Naruto! Naruto! Wake up! It's a nightmare! It's not real!" The boy continued to thrash and scream, and she saw no other choice. With one hand, Rikka firmly grasped the side of his face, and with the other, she delivered a slap that would make Sakura proud. "Naruto! Wake up! It's okay!"

He shot up into a sitting position, almost head butting the bluenette in the process. "Ryuko!" One more mighty scream split the evening, before the boy was fully back to the real world.

His gaze shifted to the girl that sat atop him, and a stunned expression filled his face. "Ri….kka?..." he questioned. At this moment the girl took notice of his physical condition. The boy was drenched in sweat, and shivers and shakes racked his body. He gasped for breath, the terror of reliving the worst day of his life still evident in his eyes.

She quickly wrapped her arms around his head, and pulled him into her chest. "It's gonna be okay honey. Everything will be okay." One hand began to slowly pet his head.

"I...I can't stop…." he said sobs being to break through him. "I can't stop seeing her!... She keeps asking me, why I didn't save her! I wanted to save her so bad Rikka… I tried! She's always there when I close my eyes!" At this point he had broken into a complete sobbing mess.

"It's okay Naruto… you'll be okay." She said as she continued to run her fingers through his hair. Eventually the boy had fallen back asleep, and Rikka left the small apartment, sad thoughts plaguing her mind.

* * *

A few days later, Naruto had just stepped out of the shower when he sensed it. "_That's not possible, he's not due back for another month."_ He thought, before Jiraiya appeared in his window.

"Hey brat."

"Jiraiya-Sensei?"

"In the flesh."

"Why are you back?"

"I came when I heard what happened." The sage said solemnly.

"Oh."

"Yeah, say brat. Why don't we go grab a bite to eat."

"Alright."

* * *

Ichiraku Ramen currently held master and apprentice as they conversed about Naruto's disaster mission.

"Wait what!? Did you just say the seal broke!?"

"Jiraiya-Sensei…..I met my father."

"You….you met him? You met..?"

"Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash of Konoha. Yes. He repaired the seal, and told me a bunch of stuff." Naruto then proceeded to explain the whole story of meeting his father to the Sannin.

"_Nagato…. That sure sounds like you….but I thought you had died….I'll have to tell Naruto about you later."_ The Sannin thought to himself. "I see. Naruto...I know I wasn't there when you were little but, I'm your godfather."

"You… are my godfather?"

"Yep."

"You're a dick." Naruto said laughing.

"You know I gave you gama-Chan right? Your frog wallet?"

"Wait what!? That was you?"

"Indeed it was."

"Thank you, Jiraiya-Sensei. Say Sensei?"

Jiraiya turned his gaze to the boy smiling. "What is it?"

"Can we go on that trip now, I don't want to wait."

Jiraiya grinned widely before letting out a loud chuckle. "Of course we can! Now that's the guts I expect from you!"

"Oh!" Naruto said smacking his fist into his palm. "I almost forgot, dad said to take me to the Northern safe house. Also, I left that out of my report….could you tell Tsunade for me?

"Hmmm… I guess. And oh yeah, I have a map of all of those safe houses, so it should be easy enough to find. Alright let's get going!" The large man said laughing before he stood, laying money on the table.

"Yes sir!"

* * *

About fifteen minutes later found the Sannin and the boy standing outside a smallish shack on the outskirts of Konohagakure. Unknown to both shinobi this was one of the Fourth's most important and well secured safe houses.

Jiraiya stepped forward to the door and when he attempted to open it he was pushed away by a barrier. "Shit….hmm Minato liked to use barriers for locking buildings…." Jiraiya stood in thought, but Naruto had began to investigate the barrier, finding a sealing formula applied beside the door.

"Jiraiya it's a level six, high grade barrier seal. I read about it in the book you said dad helped you write. It takes familiar chakra or blood to open. I can open it." He said immediately weaving a few hand signs and pushing his chakra into the seal.

"Wait Naruto you don't kno-."

He was cut off when the barrier fell and an audible click of the door unlocking was heard. "_Man dad sure was good with seals, to set it up that the door would unlock if the barrier was turned off properly."_ Naruto thought.

As they walked in, they were met with a decently large room. A large desk on one side, with a bed beside it. The desk's shelves and drawers were filled with books and scrolls. On another side of the room was a set of three shelves, with three large bags on each one. To complete it all, dangling from a piece of rope attached to the ceiling, was a singular _tri-pronged _kunai.

"Naruto….why exactly did Minato want me to take you here?"

"I told him I never want to not be fast enough again. And he said the best answer to that problem lies here, why Sensei?"

"Well I just remembered exactly what this specific safe house is for. This is where Minato stored most of his notes, technique books, and kunai. All of it for the Flying Raijin jutsu." Jiraiya sighed. "_So you want him to learn it then Minato? Heh, The Nidaime Kiiroi Senko or the Second Yellow Flash. He'll make a great successor to your legacy."_

"Wait you mean _the _Flying Raijin? As in the one that made him famous as _the_ Yellow Flash?" Naruto asked shock overtaking him.

"That's the one kid. It seems your dad is leaving this jutsu to you. Once you master this, well I've no doubt you will be _the _fastest shinobi in the world." Jiraiya said his voice now fully serious.

"Dad...is entrusting all of this…. to me..?" Naruto asked in wonder.

"Naruto….this isn't going to be easy. This will take everything you've got, if you want to master it. I'll help you all I can, but even I only helped Minato learn to use it in combat. The complex chakra and seal theory that goes into this jutsu is ridiculous. Don't do this unless you're ready to give it everything you've got."

"Jiraiya-Sensei….I'm sure. I _will _master this, and I _will_ be _the_ fastest shinobi in the world."

"Alright then. Now Naruto, when Minato finally somehow convinced Sarutobi-Sensei to let him have access to the Second Hokage's jutsu, it took him five years to master. So just don't expect it to go quickly."

"I won't Sensei, now want to help me gather what I need from here so we can bring it along?" The young man asked.

"Yeah, but first here." Jiraiya said pulling his scroll from his back. He made a hand sign, and in a puff of smoke, as scroll just as big as the one it came out of popped into existence. He pulled it open and motioned for Naruto to come closer. "This is where we will seal all of this gear for storage. You will carry this scroll on your back during the duration of our trip. You will not, under any circumstance, let this out of your sight. Got it?"

"Yes Sensei." Naruto said, serious tone completely over taking him.

"Good now let's get to collecting." The Sage said. The two moved around the small shack for hours collecting every bit of information pertaining to the Flying Raijin. They collected over two hundred scrolls full of notes on the theory behind the jutsu alone. Another hundred scrolls were collected that contained notes on the execution of the jutsu.

Fifty more scrolls were found on how the jutsu was incorporated into the Hummingbird Fist, and on multiple techniques Minato had named specifically, most used in conjunction with the Rasengan.

Another ten scrolls were found on space-time sealing theory. Those would be the building blocks to start with, and Naruto would have to become much more adept in sealing jutsu in the future. There was a long path to walk, and Naruto was ready to take the first step.

The final things they collected, were the nine bags on the shelves, inside each bag were a set of ten scrolls. Each scroll contained twelve of the inscribed tri-pronged kunai. Although, the last bag had the same number of scrolls and kunai, but the kunai did not have the Flying Raijin marker. These were left over from Minato's training. They had been used to get him adjusted to the heavier weight, and longer blade they possessed. Naruto would replace his entire kunai arsenal with these, and Jiraiya ordered him to collect all of his kunai after a battle if possible.

With that they were finished cleaning the place out. They sealed it up once again, leaving and empty shack with only a bed and a desk. As well as a lone kunai, rocking slightly on a rope attached to the ceiling.

* * *

_**So yeah. I did that. Now we are stepping forward to the training trip, and like probably a like stuttered time skip, but I might go over the entire journey. I'm not sure yet, but anyway. Yeah Flying Raijin. I made it stupid hard to learn, so he won't be using it for quite a while, but he will be using the tri-pronged kunai, so he can adjust to how they throw and are used in combat. Also, as I am sure you're wondering. Yes Nagato attacked the village. Obito did not, because in my story, he died a hero. And he stayed dead. Madara is dead too. There will never be mountain leveling battles in this fic, not by ninja anyway. That scale of battle was only seen with Hashirama and Madara, and will never be seen again, unless like maybe two tailed beast duke it out or something. If you have questions ask in the reviews, or on my Twitter and I'll try to answer what I can. Darling in the Fox out!**_


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen **

_**Heyo! Finally here with Chapter Eighteen. Training trip time, it's kinda gonna be a quick slide through snippets of events that happen over the course of three years.**_

_**Jarrend: sorry about Ryuko buddy..:( I loved her character too, but...alas character development is always necessary.**_

_**Kamui5: just wanted to say, you've been a follower of this story from the start, so thank you:)**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, we'd have seen more of Minato.**_

* * *

Rikka, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Sakura stood before Naruto and Jiraiya. Tsunade was there as well, to see off her favorite brat, and the stupid pervert. A common thought was running through the heads of the ninja seeing them off. "_Naruto sure looks a bit more serious."_

His smile was still as bright as ever, but there was something about him that was gone. It had died with Ryuko, and would never return. Naruto had seen the true nature of the shinobi world, and it had forced his mind to grow up, and accept it.

He stood before the group, black shinobi pants sagged almost like Kakashi's, chunin vest unzipped, and swaying gently in the wind. A massive scroll the size of Jiraiya's strapped to his back.

"I'll be a lot stronger when I get back. So you guys train hard too." He said to them.

"Obviously we will!" Kiba shouted.

"Tch. Sounds like a drag to me." Shikamaru spoke out against the idea.

"I'll be a lot stronger when you get back, Naruto." Said Sakura.

"Write me a letter every month." Rikka said blankly. She and Naruto had bonded over the loss of Ryuko, and they had spent some time together right before Jiraiya arrived. She was one of his closest friends as of now, he kind of let everything out when he talked to her, so she knew almost everything about him.

She still had that bland and monotone outer personality that made her who she was. But she was a lot more when you looked deeper. Naruto was honestly interested in trying to figure out how to get her out of her shell more.

"Of course, I'll make sure to write."

"Jiraiya. I want monthly status reports as well. Be ready for any missions I may send you as well, the war is still technically ongoing."

"Yes Ma'am." He replied, as Tsunade had a look promising pain if he disobeyed her order.

"And Naruto, you try not to get into too much trouble, and be safe."

"I will Lady Hokage." He said addressing her with seriousness, but you could see the bright smile on his face as he said it.

"Well we need to get going then." Said the Sage.

"Bye everyone, see ya in three years!" Naruto called as he walked off into the horizon with the Toad Sage. The only one who knew of Naruto's new jutsu project was Tsunade, it was an important secret to keep, that all the secrets behind the Flying Raijin would be traveling the elemental nations.

* * *

"Oi, Sensei?" Naruto asked looking over a scroll on space-time theory.

"What's up brat?" Jiraiya asked as he slurped up a large bowl of noodles.

"Summoning jutsu is just a low scale space time jutsu isn't it."

"Hmm...yeah I guess it is."

"Space time theory is wild. There's so much to pour over." Naruto said, standing and forming four shadow clones. "All of you study this until it's carved into your brain, then dispel. Sensei, mind sparing with me? I'd like to get more practice with the new kunai."

"Geez we've only been gone a week brat. No need to rush, but I suppose we can."

* * *

A few weeks later found the two outside of a small village on the border of Wind and Fire country. Naruto was walking beside Jiraiya, examining one of the marked kunai.

"So believe it or not Sensei, father packed a genius amount of sealing formula onto this kunai. The kanji reads, Sword of love and endurance. But each kanji is actually the container for a separate jutsu formula. He has notes in one of the scrolls detailing Lord Tobirama's original jutsu formula. The extra work dad put into his formula allowed him to eventually create the Flying Raijin: Second Step."

"That's pretty impressive kid, how'd you figure that all out?"

"I've been slowly dissecting each formula to try to better understand it. The first kanji contains a formula pertaining to speed. The second has formula for space, the third having formula for time. The fourth is where I'm running into trouble." Naruto said, his face scrunched up in thought

"What's the issue?" The Sage questioned

"I can't figure out what the formula does. It'll have to wait for last I guess. I'll focus on dissecting and unraveling the first three." He said giving out a sigh.

A toad popped into existence on Jiraiya's scroll. "Hey dudes, got a message from your Hokage for ya." The small green toad said. "See ya!" He said disappearing after handing the Sage a scroll.

"Heads up Naruto, you've got a quick solo mission."

"Huh? Already?" The boy questioned.

"We're out in the field already, which means any time a mission is requested and we are nearby, if we can do it without it getting in the way of something important, then we have to do it. But in this case we, is you." The white haired man explained.

"I see, I guess that makes sense. What's the op?"

"Eliminating a rogue chunin. He left the village about five years ago, and is on the run still, but he was sighed in a nearby village, hanging around with a group of mercenaries."

"Name?"

"Ichiro, no family name."

"Threat level?"

"Just a C-rank nin, you won't have trouble." The Sannin said.

"Got a picture?" Naruto asked. The Sannin responded by handing the boy a photo. He was a simple, black haired male with a scar across his right cheek. It was rather large, so it would be a defining trait, and help Naruto find him much easier.

"I'll be back Sensei."

"Meet me in Neba village in four days brat. We're gonna do some serious training in the fields there."

"Got it."

* * *

Naruto stood atop a building in a small village. He was crouched low, watching over a group of mercenaries that had congregated in a warehouse. A large percentage of the men were drunk, and they stood around talking amongst themselves.

"_Black hair, check. Deep scar on right cheek, check. Must be my guy." _Naruto thought to himself. Now he had to figure out how exactly he planned on getting to this guy. He was one of the few that wasn't plastered, so he would be more alert. There were only thirty or so guys. All non-shinobi except for his target.

Naruto decided speed and stealth were his best options. He body flickered himself behind the first drunken group. Five men collapsed but were caught and carried away by five shadow clones. A second body flicker took him to a pair of mercs. Drunkenly swaying beside a fire, both passed out on their own, falling to the ground in a drunken stupor. "_Well that was easy."_ He thought.

He then took out four guys who were sober, they had been patrolling around, so he knocked them out and hid them away. "_The rest seem to be all gathered into their makeshift mess hall…..I wonder, maybe if I wait this guy will split off from the others for a bit." _The blond shinobi thought to himself.

So Naruto settled on waiting a few minutes, and sure enough the missing nin left the warehouse. He stepped outside and took a piss, and as soon as he zipped up his pants Naruto appeared beside him, the man's eyes widened as he move to grab a kunai. Unfortunately for the nin, his throat was cut before his hand reached his holster.

Naruto looked at the man sadly for a moment, before reigning his emotions in, and disappearing into the night.

* * *

**Six months later. **

Naruto had made slow progress with the Flying Raijin, but still hadn't fully cracked all the theory behind the four formulas. His training with Jiraiya had been coming along nicely. His chakra control was now leagues above what it had been.

He had finally been able to up the amount of times he could use his kunai substitution. As it had turned out, Minato's kunai were all made of chakra conducting metal. Meaning Naruto could coat them in wind chakra to make them sharper. But the real advantage of this had been that if he channeled a small bit of chakra into one before he threw it, the amount of wasted chakra dispersed from him was lowered. This meant that the damage the chakra slamming into his chakra coils caused, was lowered by half. His recovery time after hitting his limit was also lessened. He now only needed to get _actual _rest* over an eight hour period. With sixteen opportunities, If he played his cards right, he was actually able to push the Sannin to be serious during a spar. His main goal now was to beat the man.

Jiraiya and Naruto had made a bet one night after and argument. If Naruto could best Jiraiya in a spar before the one and a half year mark of their trip, Jiraiya would refocus his writing. He would put a halt on work for his "written porn" as Naruto had called it, and start a new book like "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi".

Naruto was determined to win, he had read Jiraiya's first novel, and fallen in love with the book. The Toad Sage had later told him of how it had inspired Minato and Kushina to name him after the main character.

Many times along their journey, they would set up camp, as they were too far from a town, and were in no hurry. These nights by the campfire were spent with Jiraiya recalling stories of training Minato, and stories about his mother and father together.

"I'm serious kid, Minato was terrible at naming jutsu."

"No! There's no way that the _Fourth Hokage! _My dad! Would ever come up with stupid, lame, or long names for jutsu." Naruto shouted with a laugh. He pointed his finger at the Sage accusingly, before shaking his head wildly in the negative. "Not possible."

"I'm serious. How about this, he had a technique named Rasen-Flash Super-Circle Dance Howl Stage Three. How is that not lame, _and _way too long?"

"Are you kidding me!? That's a super awesome name!" The young man yelled at the Sannin

Jiraiya simply laughed loudly in response, and soon Naruto joined him. "_So it seems he will most likely have the same weird way of naming jutsu. Like father like son they say." _The Sannin thought to himself. Soon though, the elder male realized the boy had gone silent. He turned to the blond, and saw the sadness and self doubt radiating off his facial expression. "Naruto.. what's wrong?"

"Sensei...how do we...not hate? When someone takes something precious from us, how can I possibly hope to not want to take revenge on them. I hate that jinchuriki Han with every fiber of my being. If I see him again, I just don't know what I would do." The blond said, his fists clenched at his side.

"It's well known that I've been in love with Tsunade all my life. Although I did, just once, love another woman. During the Third World War, I was deployed alongside some of Suna's forces in the Land of Stone to combat Iwa. Anyway during all of this Kirigakure tried to flank through the Land of Rivers to attack Konoha. A group of Suna nin accompanied me to support our forces against them." Jiraiya said in remembrance. He sighed sadly, before giving a sad smile to Naruto.

"I met a Suna kunoichi named Miku. Boy let me tell you was she beautiful. She was an incredible woman. An extremely skilled fighter, probably one of the best. Anyway, her and I were split from our forces for over six weeks. We had to fight together against a lot of enemy shinobi to survive. It was harsh, and in that harsh environment blossomed love." The Sage glanced from the fire, to see Naruto staring intently.

"How long were you together, like as lovers?" The boy asked suddenly before Jiraiya could continue.

"Four of those six weeks were spent together, and we were together for another three months as well."

"What happened?" The blond questioned sadly.

"After the third month, she was re-deployed to the Iwa front. I got word two weeks later that Iwa shinobi had captured, tortured, and killed her."

Naruto's eyes shot from the ground to the Sannin. "What….what did you do?" He asked quietly. Silence settled over their camp, and Jiraiya stared into the fire for a few minutes. Finally he answered his student's question.

"I tracked down the shinobi, I found their camp, and I slaughtered them all."

"You...you slaughtered them?"

"Yup. Every last one. None of them even had a chance. And after I was done, I stood amidst the bodies and blood. And then I fell to my knees and _wept._ Because not only had I just lost my lover, but I had just killed so many nin, maybe they had families, someone waiting for them at home."

Naruto stared at the flames for a while. They sat in silence, before the Sannin slapped his hands on his knees and said, "well why don't we get to bed huh?"

"Oh yeah, it is pretty late." Naruto said moving to his bed, as Jiraiya did the same. But the Sannin looked to Naruto one last time.

"I know that you will have to forge your own path, and follow your own ideals. But Naruto, if there ever comes a time when you find yourself in the same sort of situation I was, don't take revenge. It's not worth it."

"I-I, I can't make you any promises Jiraiya-Sensei, but what I can promise, is that when I become Hokage, I will do everything I can to make peace with the other villages, no matter what grudges I may hold." Naruto said, he had started off shakily, but as he went along, determination filled his voice.

The older male laughed loudly, smiling at the boy, before he walked over to him and ruffled his hair. "You know, I'm really happy I made you my student."

* * *

**Training Trip- Month Eleven**

"Jiraiya-Sensei, let's have a match." The blond said to his master, loosening his body into a fighting stance. He stood before the Sage, unmarked tri-prong in hand. One foot firmly placed on the ground, the left bent at the knee, resting lightly on its toes. "Think you can keep up?"

"Brat, you're still about ten years to early to challenge me."

"We'll see about that, Sensei. Now, come."

"Have it your way." The Sage responded with a chuckle.

Jiraiya sped across the field, grass swaying as he rushed by. He slammed into the blond knee first, which sent him flying, but he turned into a log. Jiraiya quickly flipped around, as the boy appeared behind him in a handstand. His leg spun around aiming for the Sage's head. The Sannin caught the offending appendage, hurling the boy away, only to hear a thunk next to him. When he looked the the boy he had just thrown, the blond smirked.

A kunai appeared where he had been, and Naruto landed his first blow on Jiraiya in weeks. His fist impacted the side of the older male, shooting him back slightly. Unfortunately for Naruto he himself caught a leg in the chest. "It's great that you can use that to hit your opponent, but don't ever attack when it will leave you open, unless you have no other option." The Sage cautioned.

"Right." The blond replied launching back at the man. The elder struck out with a punch, which the boy caught. He quickly rolled over the man's back coming down the opposite side with a kick to the ribs, which was blocked and tossed away. The old man stuck out with a kick that sent the boy into the air. His eyes widened when a clone came into existence behind the boy, catching him, and slinging him back at the Sannin.

Naruto came in with a heel drop, the elder man sliding out of the way. The boy body flickered into existence beside the man, pressing his attack. He landed his second blow this match in the man's lower back. The Sannin skidded away a few feet, before he opened his mouth and spoke. "My turn."

The Sage launched across the field and caught Naruto by the coat, hurling him into the air. The boy righted his body, only to be hit in the chest by Jiraiya's knee. "Oof!" Naruto gasped as the air was forced out of him. The Sannin swung his leg around intent on hitting the boy in the ribs, only to kick away a kunai. The man leapt back, knowing that kunai could become a experienced blond ninja at any moment.

"Over here!" Came a yell, and as the white haired man spun around he saw ten shadow clones staring him down. "Let's go!" One called, the group charging toward the teacher.

"Hair Needle Senbon!" The Sage called, hundreds of needles shooting from him dispersing the clones before they could do anything.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" A large ball of fire burned through the remaining senbon, barreling its way toward the Sannin.

"Water Style: Water Wall!" Yelled the larger male. His eyes widened when a massive fuma shuriken came bursting from the water wall. He smirked, jumping over it before hearing a pop behind him. He turned quickly, and was met with a blond, who hurled a handful of kunai at him. He quickly deflected these, only to hear the impact of three new kunai, thrown from behind him. One landed directly to his rear, the other two landing at his sides. He spun around quickly, only to watch all three disappear, as three blonds appeared in their place. The three boys kicked him into the air, before throwing two kunai at him. One came dangerously close to Jiraiya, while the other flew past his head. The closest knife disappeared, a blond taking its place, who landed a harsh kick the the Sannin's midsection. He flew farther back into the air, only to be sent to the ground by a heel drop. The Sage impacted the ground, and Naruto smirked. He then face faulted as he watched Jiraiya disappear in a puff of smoke.

The boy's shoulders sank, before he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. "Not bad kiddo, not only did you manage to take one of Minato's techniques and make it work with your little trick, but you also managed to beat one of my clones."

"Thank you Sensei, but how am I ever going to beat you, if it takes so much just to beat your clone?"

"Naruto, even you can't expect to progress too fast. You may have a cheat, and your damn sure a prodigy, but things take time. We've been gone almost a year, and you've already improved by leaps and bounds. Be proud of your progress, and don't rush too much." The man advised.

"I know you're right, but how can I ever hope to reach dad's level?"

"Naruto, when you have those resistance seals released, and you combine them with your kunai trick, and your body flicker. I'd say your already on par with speed of the likes of Shisui of the Body Flicker, and I bet you could even give Kakashi a run for his money. But with that speed, you need experience. No matter how fast you are, inexperience will still get you killed. There's going to be a point in this trip where you're probably going to be the best you can be speed wise until you fully unravel the Flying Raijin. And at that point the only ways you'll have of getting strong will be spreading out your ninjutsu arsenal, and gaining _a lot _of experience." The Sage explained.

He sighed and ruffled the boy's hair. "Kiddo, I've watched strong ninja with tons of jutsu and huge amounts of skill fall to ninja who have nowhere near as much to work with. The reason they win is because the usually have years of experience over the enemy."

"I'm sorry, you're right Sensei."

"Of course I am! Now, how about we go get something to eat?" The elder asked, and the boy simply smiled in response.

* * *

**Elapsed time since departure from Konohagakure, one year, and six months.**

"Naruto! Come here!"

"Yes Sensei!"

The boy appeared beside the Sannin, who had a toad perched upon his head, and a scroll in his hand. "We have a mission kiddo."

"What's the job?"

"A platoon of Suna shinobi have encountered a large amount of Oto shinobi on the border of Wind Country, and River Country. Their pinned down, and we're closest. There's a high chance that if there is that many enemy nin, Orochimaru could be there." The Sage briefed the boy.

"Alright let's go then."

* * *

When Jiraiya and his apprentice arrived at the rendezvous point, they were met by two Suna jounin. "Lord Jiraiya, pleasure to meet you. My name is Tabuchi Hisato."

"Nice to meet you too, what have you got for us?"

"Our platoon was on its way to one of our outposts on the border of River Country. Long story short we encountered and engaged a group of Oto shinobi, only to be met with at least an entire company of enemy nin."

"I see. That is strange, especially all this way from Sound Country." The Sage replied. "So then, what do you need us to do?"

"The platoon is pinned down in a canyon. The only shinobi we have as back up are me and my partner. That's why we called for reinforcements. We need you to liberate our platoon, and then we can find and assault the enemy's compound." The Suna jounin explained.

"Hmm, sounds reasonable. Alright show me the layout of this canyon. Also if he's still alive after this battle, you should strip the idiot who lead your platoon into a damn canyon and a prime ambush position of his rank." The Sannin said. He couldn't believe they had managed to get an entire platoon stuck in a canyon.

The Suna jounin explained to the two Konoha shinobi that the canyon was only carved about sixty feet into the ground. On one end where it opened up slightly more, the Suna platoon was pinned. Around it, along the ledges above them, and in the canyon directly in front, sat the Oto nin. There were only about two platoons of Oto nin now, the rest having pulled back to where ever they had come from.

"Naruto, what do you think?" The Sannin asked the boy.

"Let's take a closer look. Lead us there please." He said to the Suna jounin.

The four shinobi found themselves on a rocky outcrop, a few hundred yards away from the beginning of the canyon, where the Suna nin were pinned. Naruto had placed his finger to the ground and began counting aloud as soon as they had arrived. The Suna jounin had stared at the blond in confusion. When he looked to the Sage for answers, the white haired man just smiled.

"I count eighty enemy nin Sensei. The good news is most of the Suna nin are still alive. Maybe not for long, but they are still alive." The blond reported.

"Good, so what do you suggest?" The Sage asked his apprentice. He knew the only way to truly make the boy better, was to give him as much experience as he possibly could.

"Around the ledges atop the canyon, there's only ten nin. The rest are based in the canyon. I'll take care of the ten. I should be able to do it with five kunai, they are based in pairs of two. That will also leave me with eleven chances left." The blond explained to his sensei. While he had spoke he had laid out a group of unmarked tri-pong, all the while the Suna nin stared at him in confusion.

"Alright, so what about the nin in the canyon itself?" Asked the eldest male.

"Well A, we could drop a toad on em, but I've been using that so much in this war it's kind of boring. B, you and I could drop down and most likely man handle all of them. Oto jounin are shitty if not grouped together, and I'd bet half would run at seeing you in the first place. C, I can form a bunch of clones, and I can just drop a shit load of Rasengans on them." The blond said.

"Nope, sorry kiddo. I'll drop in, and handle the main force after you've taken out the surrounding nin. Afterwards, you flicker down behind them and start taking them out while they are either distracted, or running. Leave one alive. I have questions." The battle hardened Sannin ordered.

"Alright fine." He replied two clones bursting to life behind him. He looked at the Suna nin. "You just sit here and watch alright?" With that the two clones were off, and the Suna nin watched in awe as they threw kunai at each pair of Oto nin. Naruto's eyes flashed open, and he disappeared. The friendly foreign nin looked confused as a kunai appeared where the boy had just been.

Jiraiya chuckled lightly. "Just watch."

Naruto appeared next to the first pair, and before they could even recognize his presence, he had already buried a kunai in one's neck. He swept the feet out from the other, landing in a crouch above his targets chest. He quickly shoved the knife down into the man, and he was gone, a new kunai appeared where he had been, and it fell harmlessly onto the ledge.

"Rasengan!" Echoed through the canyons as another ledge where a pair had been disappeared entirely. The next pair had begun to look over, distracted from their inspection of the kunai that had landed before them only about forty seconds ago. They turned away before they could watch it disappear, and both were dead before they could even feel the special shaped kunai bury itself in their necks.

The next pair were still inspecting the strange kunai, when they saw the pair slightly below and across from them fall dead. "What the fu-." One was cut off as he was kicked into the wall, his tanto pulled from its holster, and buried in the his comrades chest. The blond kicked the hilt of the tanto, shoving it deeper into the man, and launching him off the ledge. He swung his hand around and buried his now oh so familiar blade into the other nin's temple. He flicked the blood off, before he sighed, and disappeared once more.

The last pair had watched all of this, and one quickly grabbed the unusual kunai, and threw it away from the ledge. As it got about a foot out, Naruto appeared and seeing he was not on solid ground he body flickered behind the two, kicking one off, and throwing a kunai after him. He quickly turned to the other, he planted a kick in the man's chest that sent him upward, he body flickered up the canyon wall behind him, and stabbed a blade into the man's spine. "_I didn't expect them to pick up so fast." _He thought, and he substituted with the kunai he had thrown after the man he'd kicked off. The man righted himself in the air. He saw the kunai coming, and moved to deflect it, only to be met with a blond Konoha chunin, who held a blue ball of chakra in his hand. "Rasengan!" The boy yelled, as he slammed it into the man's chest, and launched him to the ground, dead.

At that moment, Jiraiya leapt down in front of the Suna shinobi in the Canyon. He leapt into the air before them, toward the Oto nin. "Ultra Big Ball Rasengan!" He shouted, a massive Rasengan forming in his hand, which he slammed into the front line of Oto nin. Some Oto nin immediately fled, they knew that had encountered Jiraiya of the Sannin, and they had just watched him wreck ten shinobi in one move. "Fire Style: Flame Bullet!" The Sage shot a massive concentrated bullet of fire from his mouth, burning many of the enemy shinobi to a crisp.

As Jiraiya dealt with the shinobi that had stayed to fight. Naruto landed before the retreating group, he immediately used his body flicker to take advantage of their shock and dispatched all but one of them. He landed before the last enemy nin, and spoke one simple line. "Surrender." The nin's eye's went wide, as he felt an unexpected amount of killing intent swirl around him. He slowly dropped the kunai he held, and got to his knees. Disarmed and will to fight broken, Naruto placed the man's hands behind his head and held them there.

He craned his neck to look at his approaching Sensei. "All yours Sensei." The boy said as Jiraiya grabbed the man.

"Naruto. Go check up on the Suna nin."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Naruto and Jiraiya now found themselves sprinting through a corridor of a underground bunker constructed by Orochimaru. They had located the base, and as the Suna nin took on the shinobi defending the exterior, the Konoha shinobi had slipped in. They had full intentions of wiping out the Oto nin inside, searching for Orochimaru, and then leveling the base.

"Sensei let's stop a moment, I can probably find him." He stopped and placed his finger to the ground. "He's here."

"How can you be sure?"

"It's simple really." Naruto smiled at his sensei before continuing. "Sasuke's here."

Jiraiya sighed as they took off running once again, this time guided by Naruto's slightly better understanding of the base. They finally came to a large throne room. In the chair sat Orochimaru, beside him, was Kabuto and Sasuke.

"Oh Jiraiya, how unexpected. I didn't think you'd be crashing my party with the Suna nin."

"Oh come on now Rochi, I wouldn't miss any party of yours." Jiraiya retorted.

"Uzumaki." Came the stoic voice of Sasuke.

"Uchiha." Naruto replied. All three Konoha nin played out their acts perfectly.

"Sasuke….why don't you deal with your little friend." The snake Sannin said with a sneer.

"Orochimaru….I came to you for power, not to fight Konoha nin….but for this one, I'll make and exception." Sasuke said with a sneer of his own.

Sasuke launched at the blond, sword drawn. He swung down at him, but the blade was caught in the prong of Naruto's kunai. Sasuke looked at the strange knife in confusion. "That's new."

"That it is." Naruto said, as he looked toward his sensei. The Sage was seen to be in battle with the snake Sannin. They struck at each other with harsh blows. Impacts hit so hard they echoed through the room. Both shinobi flew through hand signs, summoning their bosses. Gamabunta and Manda's immense size ripped through the hideout, the ceiling destroyed around them, the sun now bearing down on the room. As the Sannin battled, Naruto turned back to his own fight.

Sasuke made the unison sign at Naruto. A sign they had agreed that if they encountered each other once he left, would signal the necessity to pass along intel. He looked into the Uchiha's eyes, as he tried to see what the next move would be. The Uchiha's Sharingan flashed to life, and Naruto found himself in a calm forest clearing.

"Naruto, this is a unique genjutsu I created just incase I needed to talk to you. I call it, Sharingan: Slow Time. One minute in the world gives us an hour here to talk."

"Well S'ke, that's pretty impressive."

"Naruto… something's different about you, what changed?"

"I lost someone close, nobody you know though. It's a long story, and we don't have time. What have you got for me?" The blond asked his face serious.

"In a year and a half, Orochimaru plans to gather his forces and try for a coup d'etat in Kusagakure. He has a hideout in Fire Country, just on the border of Grass Country. I plan to kill him then, but his forces under him may still try to enact his plan. I could see maybe Kabuto doing it. Either way, I'll probably need help. And then, I plan to immediately go after Itachi as soon as possible. Let the Hokage know that I insist on being given a mission to do so." The black haired shinobi explained.

"Fair. I'll be there, let me know two days before hand via that hidden toad summoning formula. I'll get our forces on site." The blond responded. "Alright let's make a believable fight huh?"

"Sure. Let's." The Uchiha said, and the two immediately found themselves battling in the room once more. As the Sannin's fight dragged on, Jiraiya was quickly gaining the upper hand.

Sasuke appeared behind Naruto in a body flicker, prompting the blond to comment. "Well now, you certainly got fast." He chuckled afterword, before he flickered behind Sasuke at great speeds. "But I'm still faster."

"Hn." The Uchiha retorted, before swinging his sword around on his friend. Naruto quickly countered with his kunai, holding the sword at bay. "I think I'll have Orochimaru raise the bounty on your head." The sole survivor commented.

"Oh? Have you suddenly acknowledged my skill?" The blond replied.

"No I just want you dead." To anyone else nearby, it would have sounded like Sasuke meant it, but to Naruto, who knew the truth, it was just a sarcastic jab.

"Oh how very Sasuke of you." He replied.

"Hn." They flew at one another again, only to be interrupted by a loud yell.

"Sasuke! We're leaving!" The Snake Sannin yelled.

"Not if I can help it!" Jiraiya yelled, moving through hand seals, but the Uchiha appeared behind Orochimaru, and the two were swallowed by a snake that then dispelled.

"Shit! They got away." Said the Toad Sage as he stood beside Naruto.

"It's fine Sensei, he'll be dead soon." Naruto said with a cryptic smile. Jiraiya's face fell slightly at the thought of his once great friend's death. But he knew it was for the greater good. He hated to leave it in the Uchiha boy's hands, but it would probably be the only option.

* * *

A loud explosion was heard later that day, as the entire complex collapsed on itself. Orochimaru's experiments and note all blasted and burned away.

The blond and his sensei set up camp later that night, and as Jiraiya settled down to sleep, Naruto prepared to write yet another letter to Rikka and his friends.

_Dear Rikka, _

_This is the eighteenth letter. A year and six months is a long time to be gone. I miss all of you a lot, but I'm getting seriously strong. I've done twenty missions for the village during our trip. Jiraiya-Sensei trains me till I drop. I ran into Sasuke today, during an op. Tell Sakura I'll definitely bring him back to the village once I come back. Anyway, I'm curious how you've been doing? I wonder if you've changed at all? You're definitely just as close of a friend to me these days as Sasuke was, and Sakura is. I hope we can spar when I get back. Don't worry, I haven't gotten injured at all lately, and I promise I'm being careful. I want to come back fast enough to protect you all. I'm stupid fast already, but it's not enough. Anyway, I definitely miss you. And don't worry, Jiraiya-Sensei's pervy ways haven't rubbed off on me, I'm still a good guy. Same old Naruto….but I don't know….Rikka, I killed ten men today in under two minutes. They...they probably had families, and loved ones. I've been taking them away, sending them to the afterlife without a second thought. It's starting to weigh on my mind….maybe I will talk to Sensei about it. Anyway, I have to go to sleep now, Jiraiya and I plan to travel across River Country for the next few days._

_-Uzumaki Naruto._

_P.S. tell Kakashi that Jiraiya is releasing a new make out book soon, so I'll try to get him a signed copy._

* * *

_**Annnnnnnddd that's a wrap. I dunno, skipped some time there ya know. Naruto is faster now, and can use his substitution sixteen times. The rest I talked about, is that to fully recover from hitting his limit, he must get a full eight hours of sleep. If he doesn't he won't be able to rest his chakra until then. But I suppose if he molded chakra the whole time as he fought constantly for a prolonged few days, he could probably regain ability. Essentially I just needed to give him a handicap. He uses **__**unmarked **__**flying Raijin kunai, as he is training with them and learning how to use them instead of the normal kunai. More on the learning of the Flying Raijin next chapter, and hopefully a mission or something. Sasuke's genjutsu is **__**not**_ _**the Tsukuyomi, so don't worry. It's a special one he developed himself. But yeah that's all for now. Darling in the Fox out!**_


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen **

_**Heyo! It's the Nineteenth chapter. Today we continue Naruto's training trip with the Toad Sage. **_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, I probably would have some cool stuff.**_

* * *

**Training trip duration: Two years.**

Since Naruto had encountered Sasuke, he and his sensei had traveled across many of the minor nations. The two had stopped at many villages along the way, and helped them out if they ever needed it.

Eventually they had made their way to Waterfall Country. Jiraiya intended to stay here for the rest of the trip. There were many waterfalls scattered across the country, and they had found one that Jiraiya had said would be perfect for training Naruto's wind style. Because of this, through all of his hard work, Naruto had finished his Wind Style training. It was also a _very _secluded part of the country, so Jiraiya felt comfortable training some of Naruto's ability to harness the Nine Tails' chakra.

Jiraiya had also stated that the waterfall would help for training Naruto's water style. And it did, a lot. Naruto had complete mastery over every water jutsu he possessed. Jiraiya had taught him quite a few more as well, just to give him something to do.

The waterfall had also given way to what Jiraiya had decided was probably one of the most powerful and deadly jutsu known to man. The Rasenshuriken. Upon informing the boy of the fact that the Rasengan had never been fully completed, the blond struck out to do what his father could not.

The brutal technique used heavy amounts of chakra, and as Jiraiya had come to figure out, was extremely damaging to its user. After the boy had used it a few times, he had complained to the Sage about pain in his arm. After looking over notes and eventually even having the toads inform Tsunade, they had discovered the reason behind the pain. The Rasenshuriken cut at a microscopic level, destroying chakra pathways themselves. Although the backlash was lower on the user than the damage caused to the target, Tsunade labeled the jutsu as an S-Rank forbidden jutsu. Naruto was not to use it unless there was really no other option.

In the Sage's opinion, the boy's natural speed at this point was just ridiculous. Most of the enemy nin Naruto would face in his life wouldn't stand a chance. Only strong nin, who could properly enhance their body with chakra would be able to keep up. In terms of pure speed, Jiraiya was sure Naruto could hold his own against Kakashi, or Rock Lee and to a point even Gai.

The boy had spent one entire week sitting at a makeshift table, working on seals, especially that of the Flying Raijin. He had deciphered in full the first kanji's hidden formula. The first hidden formula had been a massive set of complex seals that formed the basis for speed. He had broken into the second seal completely, and had deciphered that it entirely pertained to space. Although he was not done reverse engineering it, he had found that it was this sealing array that provided the technique the ability move through space.

He had also been able to lightly dabble in the third kanji's array. This one had been time. He hadn't gotten far along on it, but he figured it was what cause the teleportation to be almost instantaneous.

The last he had determined, was the array for tear. The very part of the seal that allowed the technique to rip a hole in space-time for the user to pass through. But he had made no more progress on this array. In fact, compared to the others, it was like trying to learn a new language while drowning and not being able to see. None of it seemed to make any sense.

* * *

"Sensei!"

"What's up Naruto?"

"I'm gonna push my limit again, care to share a few shadow clones?"

"Sure kid I don't see why not. But listen, I've got to go meet a contact of mine outside Takigakure. I'll be gone for two days, so be careful. If you run into big trouble summon a toad and get my attention, got it?"

"Yes sir."

"Alright, see you around kid."

Two of Jiraiya's shadow clones appeared, and the Sage took off. Naruto looked at one clone. "Alright let's get started!"

"Sure thing kid."

The white haired man stood in the middle of the clearing across from Naruto. The blond popped open his kunai holsters, and quickly threw a set of kunai at Jiraiya. He quickly appeared behind his master via body flicker. The blond drew another set, and used them to encircle the Sannin's clone as well. "Try to keep up sensei."

The boy appeared beside the Sannin, and swung his leg up in savage kick. The Sannin blocked the kick, and the boy appeared once again behind him. This time Naruto slammed a foot into the man's lower back, sending him flying. Before the clone could exit the circle of kunai, Naruto appeared once again, kicking him back toward them.

As Jiraiya flew back the boy appeared again, and slammed a kunai into his back, and the clone was dispatched. The boy then turned to the other clone on the sidelines. "Sensei you can dispel, I've decided I'm gonna try to see how fast I can take out a large group."

"Suit yourself kid." The clone said before he popped out of existence. Naruto then quickly performed the clone sign himself, and formed forty clones. He littered the area in and around the large group with kunai before he addressed them.

"Hit me as hard as you can, and try not to dispel." He said, before he appeared in the middle of the group, a kunai plamed in each hand. He quickly ducked under a spin kick, and slammed a kunai into the offending clone's side. He turned quickly shoving one through another's chest. Three of them came at him at once and he quickly disappeared, and popped up in a different section of the small battle.

He had started training like this recently, he would form clones that would fight against him while he had his kunai in place. They were forbidden from using the kunai substitution, as they were taking the place of enemy nin.

He slid under yet another kick, and slid his kunai through the offending leg as he did. "_One minute, ten down. Eleven moves left. Gotta get more in one go." _He thought to himself as he planted a kick in a clones chest, leaping back off of him. As he came down he slammed a kunai into another clone, dispatching two more as they came at him.

Four minutes and twenty eight clones later, Naruto stood still, he took heavy breaths and let himself settle. "_Well that wasn't bad. I managed to save three moves as well." _He hummed to himself, and walked back over to his camp. He pulled out a fish he had caught the other day, and began to cook.

Naruto suddenly stopped eating the fish halfway through. He casually leaned back and placed his finger to the ground. "_This chakra….." _He thought as he felt the presence of the five Iwa shinobi that observed him from the tree line. "_I've gotta let Jiraiya-Sensei know… dammit it they caught me right after I used most of my substitution capability." _The boy casually walked over to a tent, crawled in and acted like he was looking for something. He quickly made hand signs, and summoned a small green messenger toad. He put his hand over the toads mouth as soon as it appeared, and began to speak. "Shitsujun, dispel and tell Jiraiya I need help. It's _very_ important." The toad gave him a small salute, and disappeared. He opened his large scroll, and unsealed a large bag full of unmarked tri-prongs.

He walked out of the tent and into the clearing. He set the bag down and formed four shadow clones. All of them collected the kunai, and the five blonds littered the field with kunai. Naruto keeping extras in his pouch. Finally he addressed his unwanted company. "What do you want?" He asked the unshown shinobi.

"So you knew we were there huh? Nine Tails jinchuriki." Spoke the leading Iwa nin. The group of five landed before him, four of them were Iwa ANBU, but the fifth filled Naruto with rage. Just the presence of the man alone had Naruto subconsciously drawing on the Nine Tails.

"Han!" He said rage filling his voice. "I fucking let you go once! And you come back for more?! You're gonna show your face to me?" He quickly calmed himself, before looking to the apparent leader. "So what do you want, I'm not exactly in Iwa territory now, in fact this is Taki, and they are allied with my village.

"It's simple really Nine Tails, we want your power for our village." The leader said simply.

"Conflict should be avoided at all costs, what you're doing is provoking a war. A war that would drag in the entire shinobi world. Back off now, because you don't exactly know who you're dealing with." The blond said.

"You were weak when you faced Han, the only reason you lived is because of your beast."

"I'm a whole different shinobi now. Don't test it." He cautioned.

"Hmm, we'll take our chances."

As the Iwa nin began to move, three shadow clones of Naruto ran forward from the tent beside them, each substituted with a kunai to put themselves beside an ANBU. Two of them managed to dodge away, but the other two fell to the ground with kunai imbedded in their chests.

Han quickly barreled forward at Naruto, and rammed into him. Only for the blond to disappear in a puff of smoke. It turned out he never left the tent, sending out a shadow clone, and hiding himself in the tent, so he could ambush the Iwa nin with shadow clones.

"You coward! Show yourself!" The Iwa commander yelled, after the three dispatched Naruto's clones.

"If you don't want this to become a problem that I bring up with Lady Hokage, I suggest you politely fuck off." The blond said, as his anger got the best of him. He stood atop the waterfall, that overlooked his camp.

"Hashimaru….Han…. we're pulling off." The leader said.

"No I'll fight him. You go. I'll either come back with him or I'll probably be dead." The steam jinchuriki said.

"You really wanna fuckin die today don't you Han." Naruto said. "I'll make you pay for what you did two years ago."

The leader and his subordinate gathered the two fallen Iwa nin. He nodded to Han, and they disappeared from view. The Steam jinchuriki faced the blond, and took a fighting stance. The blond growled lowly, he remembered exactly how he had felt when he watched Ryuko die to this man. Naruto was pissed, more than he had ever been before. The fox tried to whisper it's lies to him, but he ignored it. He opted to face this man completely with his own power.

The two nin moved to attack each other, when a new set of voices split the air. "Well Kakuzu, lucky day for us huh? Found two jinchuriki in one place."

"Shut up Hidan, you're wasting time." The former Taki nin said.

"Kakuzu, just sit back and let me sacrifice these two to Jashin." The maniac said.

"Great first Iwa, and now the Akatsuki." Naruto said, his voice gave an annoyed tone. "Han…..do you know about this group?"

"No." Stated the large man.

"They're out to capture all of the worlds jinchuriki for an unknown purpose. The organization is comprised of only S-Rank missing nin. Jiraiya managed to find out a lot about them, and I've been studying them so I can fight them. This is the immortal duo, supposed to be impossible to kill….If you don't want to die, we should probably work together. I hate you, but I hate these people more."

"Fine."

"Pick one." Naruto said.

"I'll take the Taki nin."

"Alright." With that the two nin, who moments before were enemies, leapt into battle. At least, that's what Naruto thought, until he realized Han had run for Iwa immediately. "Fuck! Han you bastard!"

"Kakuzu! Go get him!"

"No Hidan, this blond one is the Nine Tails anyway, let's focus on him."

Naruto knew that he was in a bad spot. He might be much stronger due to Jiraiya's training, but he wasn't that strong. He'd have to fight smart. He quickly formed two clones, and the blondes quickly executed sets of hand signs.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"

"Wind Style: Open Destruction!"

"Super Wind Hurricane Combination!"

A massive overwhelming force of wind ripped apart everything in its path toward Hidan and Kakuzu. Two hundred clones burst to life on the battlefield, forcing Hidan and Kakuzu to take on the small army.

"Naruto!" Yelled a familiar voice. The Toad Sage landed next to the boy. "I got your message and came quick, but it looks like you went from fighting Iwa to fighting the Akatsuki huh?"

"I'm glad you're here Sensei." Naruto said drawing a kunai.

"Naruto have a clone run off with mine. We need to talk." The Sannin said. With that a clone of both men appeared and ran into the tree line.

"You think you have room for side conversation when you're facing us!? I'll sacrifice you to Lord Jashin!"

Hidan ran at Naruto while Jiraiya went straight at Kazuku. The cultist swung at Naruto with his scythe, and the boy quickly flickered away from it's blades. "You're fast but I know your secret. Shikamaru really wanted to get to do this to you, but I'll do it for him. You killed Sarutobi Asuma. You will die here."

Jiraiya's clone had informed Naruto's about a message he had received from Konohagakure. During Hidan and Kazuku's bounty hunting to gather funds, they had come across Team Ten. When the former Taki nin had recognized Asuma, the battle had begun. Shikamaru's analytical skills had not been fast enough to figure Hidan out, but he had deduced after Asuma's death, that as long as Hidan never drew blood, you were safe.

"Just shut up and hold still!" Yelled the cultist as Naruto flickered away once again. The blond's only current problem, was that during his training he had burned most of his substitution. He only had three goes before things went bad.

"_I just gotta cut off his head, and make sure it can't get replaced." _He thought. "_You did well...Asuma, I'll take it from here."_ With this, Naruto sprang into action. He tossed a kunai at Hidan, who uncaringly let it stick into his chest. Suddenly Hidan felt the pain of the knife disappeared, and felt a Big Ball Rasengan impact his face.

The missing nin was launched away, slaming into the base of a tree. He stood and glared at the blond. "That hurt you bitch!" He yelled out before laughing. "I'm gonna kill you!"

"_Alright, fuck it. I'm not gonna bother holding back, I'm sorry Jiraiya-Sensei, I know you forbade me from using this jutsu. I need to end this quickly." _The blond thought leaping away again. Two clones burst to life next to the blond, and he began to form a Rasengan. "Hidan! I'll tell you once, surrender!"

"Fuck you! You're gonna die by my hand motherfucker!" The nin yelled rushing at Naruto.

The two clones moved forward, and in seconds a screeching sound filled the field. "Naruto! Don't use that jutsu!" Jiraiya yelled from his own battle.

"Sorry Sensei, no can do." Hidan rushed by a kunai that was stuck in the ground, and in seconds Naruto was behind him. He swung his jutsu down, and focused all of its cutting power into removing Hidan's head. When the head left the body, Naruto tossed the body away with the jutsu in tow. "Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!"

Hidan's head spoke in a slow raspy tone, "I've never felt pain on this scale…."

Naruto walked over to the head, he formed a Rasengan in his hand, and turned his face away as he ground to severed head into a bloody red paste. With Hidan out of the picture, he could quickly assist his sensei.

He flickered quickly to his sensei's position, and the Sannin leapt away from the former Taki nin. "Naruto, you're gonna ruin your arm."

"It's fine Sensei, I can do it once more. I'm gonna be pretty fucked up, but I can do it." By this time, Jiraiya has already destroyed two of Kakuzu's hearts. The missing nin leapt away, his remaining two masks lined up in front of him.

"Wind Style: Open Destruction!"

"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"

Both jutsu came roaring from the masks, they created a massive firestorm that charred its way toward Naruto and Jiraiya. The white haired man quickly jumped in front of his student, he slid through hand seals, and slammed his palms to the ground. "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" A massive wall burst from the ground leaving Naruto and his sensei unscathed.

"Sensei pin him down!"

"Naruto. You can't use that jutsu again."

"Sensei you and I both know we can't let this guy keep fighting. So please pin him down."

"Damnit kid! Fine!" Jiraiya formed another set of hand signs, and called out a different jutsu. "Earth Style: Swamp Of The Underworld!" Kakuzu suddenly sunk into the ground, the earth around him turned into a swamp and he now struggled to move.

The blond and two clones formed a Rasenshuriken, and Kakuzu saw what was about to happen. His arm extended, it shot out and grabbed hold of a tree which he then used as leverage to pull himself out.

He was surprised by the two clones that appeared beside him, and both grabbed his legs. "_The headhunter jutsu is amazing." _Naruto thought idley. The blond quickly flickered across the field at the zombie like man, but the clones were suddenly dispatched. Black tendrils shot from Kakuzu's body destroying everything close to him.

Unfortunately for the former Taki nin, one clone had been quick enough to shove a kunai into the man's knee. That was the only opening Naruto needed. He appeared behind him, slamming the massive spinning jutsu into the bounty hunters back. Kakuzu was launched away, and he landed with a crash as the jutsu expanded.

The boy shot across the field to where the body of Kakuzu lay. The boy stood over him, as the missing nin attempted to get back up. He knew there no hearts left to resurrect, so he plunged a kunai through the man's back, killing him instantly.

The blond turned back to his sensei giving him a tired grin. "Sensei. Told you...I'd...take care of...it…" he said trailing off. The physical exhaustion for all the fighting, along with the massive amounts of damage the Rasenshuriken had done to his arm caught up with him. He still had chakra left, but his body couldn't take it anymore.

Jiraiya shot across the clearing, catching Naruto as he collapsed. "You did good kiddo. Looks like we'll have to go back to Konoha now though." He said looking at the boy's mangled arm. "You really have become strong, Naruto." The Sannin said as he laid the boy down. He quickly began to gather their things, and pack up to move them back to Konoha.

* * *

"_Tsunade, in a days time, Naruto and I will be returning to the village early. I don't intend to cut our trip short though. You remember the massive hidden mountain complex I used to train Minato? I intend to finish our year there. Please meet me there to heal the kid. This stupid brat used that Rasenshuriken twice. So his arm is screwed up." _Tsunade sighed loudly as she finished reading Jiraiya's letter. She really was too old for this. She needed a drink.

* * *

Naruto woke up a few days later in a bed. He stared up at the wood ceiling for a few moments, before he swung his legs over the side and stood. He walked to the door of the room and opened it. Stepping through, he found himself standing in a long wooden hallway. His brow raised in confusion, before he reached out and placed his hand on the wall.

He fell the familiar feeling of taking in every nearby chakra signature. He could feel, that off in the distance, at the very edge of his sensory range, was Konohagakure. Closest to him though, was Jiraiya. He followed the long hallway down, and finally came to a door.

He quietly opened it, and was greeted with the sight of a large kitchen with a connected dining room. At the table eating a bowl of noodles was the Sannin.

"Sensei, where are we?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Oh! You're up huh? Well kiddo this is a pretty special place to me, and to your father."

"What do you mean?"

"This training ground is where your father truly became the Yellow Flash. Originally it was a small scale geared training ground with moving targets. This complex is actually built into the side of a mountain. Anyway, after Minato mastered the Flying Raijin, he desperately needed to develop and hone his ability to use it in combat. Thus, the full creation of this training ground. There's more complex moving parts in this training ground than there is in the entirety of Konoha. Once you master the Flying Raijin, you will use this place as well. But for now, you and me will finish out or last year of training here."

"Oh I see. Care to show me around my new temporary home?"

"Sure, but come eat first. I had to drag Tsunade here just to fix your damn arm brat."

"Heh sorry."

* * *

For the rest of their year, the student and teacher spent their time in the training complex. The mechanical targets and sparing posts helped hone Naruto's reflexes into something that had begun to surpass even Minato's

The boy had even gotten to the point that he could actually put Jiraiya down in a spar. The Sage was extremely proud at the development of his student, the boy now being eighteen, and likely one of the strongest shinobi in all of Konoha. He was honestly under the opinion that he didn't really have anything left to teach the boy. Maybe Sage mode, but the Sannin was unsure of that. The boy definitely needed to focus on the Flying Raijin. After all Minato had done just fine without it.

The boy had been absorbing all the information he could as well. He had extensively studied every known bingo book and all the shinobi they contained. The boy had been forced to increase his knowledge in science, and mathematics to continue his work on understanding space time theory.

His skills in fuinjutsu had also nearly doubled. Although he had fully decoded the first two sealing formulas of the Flying Raijin, and even gotten most of the way through with the third, he was still struggling with understanding the fourth and final seal formula. He was also having trouble with how exactly they were supposed to work in conjunction to form the actual technique.

The Sannin had no doubt, that when the boy finally mastered the technique, he would be nearly unstoppable. His chakra reserves would place almost no limit on how many times he could use the jutsu. He truly would be an unstoppable force on the battlefield.

* * *

"Hey Sensei, mind if I go grab some ramen and then meet you there?" The blond asked as he and the Sage approached the village gate.

"Meh, I guess but hurry up kid I don't wanna be there all day."

"Oh so you mean you don't want an excuse to hang around Lady Tsunade?" The boy asked raising an eyebrow.

"You know what kiddo, you're right. Take your time." He replied as they walked right past the guard shack.

"Hey! You can't just walk into Konohagakure without signing…..in…." Came the voice of Izumo as he trailed off. "Lord Jiraiya? Naruto?" He asked as recognition took hold.

"In the flesh." Said the Sannin, who Izumo noted didn't look nearly as tall standing next to the now much taller Uzumaki.

"Naruto….you got taller."

"Huh? Oh yeah, I guess I did. Izumo you haven't changed at all." He said laughing. "Anyway we've got places to be, so see ya!" He said and he and the Sage disappeared.

"That was rude….." Said the chunin sulking.

* * *

"One Uzumaki special please!" Naruto said loudly as he entered the Ichiraku ramen shop.

"Naruto!?" Ayame said as she witnessed the tall blond enter.

"That's me! Now look big sister Ayame, I've been gone three years! And that's too long to go without ramen!"

"You never change Naruto. Dad! Naruto's back, start him a few bowls!"

"Welcome back kid! Three Uzumaki specials coming right up!" Yelled the chef from the back room.

"Thanks Teuchi!" He replied loudly. Suddenly the sound of loud running outside rang into the ramen shop. The feet came skidding to a halt as the person entered the ramen shop.

"Naruto!?"

The blond laughed nervously remembering the mistakes he had made over the last three months of his training. "Oh uh h-hey there Rikka…"

* * *

_**That's all folks things are going to go a little slower from here on out. I'm no longer written ahead like I had been, so sometimes updates are going to come a little slower. Please bare with me to the end. Dunno if you caught it, but I clarified there that Minato never learned Sage mode in this story. Naruto cannot use the Rasenshuriken unless I give him sage mode and I don't think I'm going to. I needed a way for him to kill off Hidan and Kakuzu. Also, anyone who can draw, please DRAW RIKKA! Or do a render! I'll love you forever. Anyway, Darling in the Fox out!**_


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

_**Heyo welcome back please enjoy this next chapter. **_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, well we wouldn't be doing this right now would we?**_

_**Elypsus: yup! The training ground is indeed the one from road to ninja.**_

* * *

"Naruto!?"

"Oh uh h-hey there Rikka…" The blond shinobi earned a fist to the face in response. Before he could fall the girl caught him in a tight hug holding him close to her. He had forgotten to write her for the last three months, and she had been driven wild in worry.

"You promised to write me you idiot." She said. He slowly wrapped his arms around her and held her in his embrace.

"I know. I'm sorry I forgot, Jiraiya-Sensei and I got very caught up in our last bit of training. I promise to make it up to you." He said with a smile.

"You'd better…" She trailed off before pulling away and punching his arm. "Wow, you've grown a lot!" The girl took in the appearance of the secret Namikaze. The eighteen year old was tall now, standing at a solid five foot eight inches. He still wore his chunin vest, unzipped and lazily swaying in the wind. The only change to his outfit was the fact that his standard Konoha shinobi uniform was now dark blue, in place of the black he had once worn. His hair had grown slightly more, The spikiness now almost out of control. Unknown to Rikka, although the idea was present in the very back of her head, the man before her was the complete spitting image of Namikaze Minato.

"Heh thanks. Teuchi! Lemme get another bowl for Rikka please!"

"Coming right up kid!" The chef yelled from the back.

"You've changed a lot as well, Rikka." He said taking in her appearance. She was now dressed in a standard Konoha shinobi top with short sleeves. She wore a pair of black shorts (like Sakura's), and sported her very own chunin vest. The woman now stood five foot six, and had grown out a lot physically. Her breasts had become larger, and as far as the boy could tell, the rear of the kunoichi that stood before him was _very _well developed and toned. He blushed gently, turning his head away from her. "_That damn pervert sensei made me start acting all weird."_

"Naruto… were you just checking me out?" She questioned teasingly.

"Uh...no! No! I wasn't I swear!" He said panicking. The girl simply laughed in response, before looking him over.

"Well you're not too bad either." She broke with. She quickly realized what she had said, before she blushed and turned away.

"You're still wearing that orange scarf. It must be special to you." He observed.

She blushed harder and took a step back from him. "Are you stupid?" She questioned her face very red now.

"Uh, I feel like I'm missing something here." He said scratching his neck. "Anyway let's eat really quick."

After quickly eating and catching up, Naruto promised to find her soon so they could talk more. He then quickly made his way to the Hokage tower.

* * *

"Jiraiya another word and I'll punch you to the moon." Tsunade said as Naruto opened the door and stepped in.

"Uhh...am I interrupting something." The blond asked.

"No brat you're just in time to get this guy off my back." The Sannin turned Kage answered.

"Uhhh... right. So I'm back."

"That you are. I've heard a lot about your new skills. Especially that one that ruined your arm to the point I had to fix it. Do not use it again! Got it brat?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Now I was planning on having you and Sakura do an evaluation against Kakashi, but I've decided that it might be overkill. So I think I'll have you and Kakashi duke it out one on one." The Hokage said with a smirk.

"I won't go easy on you Naruto." The masked jounin said from the window. Unknown to the other shinobi, Kakashi had actually almost fallen out the window at the sight of his student. He hadn't expected the blond to look _that _much like his old sensei.

"Ah Kaka-Sensei, how are you? I brought you a present." The blond said with a smile, handing a book to Kakashi. "That's the last Icha Icha book Sensei will write for a while, I beat him in a spar and now he has to write a decent novel like his first one."

"Thank you Naruto. But the last? Really Lord Jiraiya!?"

"Kakashi use the damn door!" Tsunade yelled loudly. "Anyway, tomorrow at eight meet at training ground seven and we will get started."

"Yes Ma'am!"

* * *

As the morning breeze floated through the forest, two highly skilled shinobi stared each other down. The blond could sense the chakra signatures of his Sannin teacher, and the blonde Hokage hiding in the trees. He could also sense twenty others, among them were Sakura's and Rikka's. He assumed Tsunade had started a betting pool as most people would likely bet on Kakashi. "_Smart woman." _He thought idly.

"Alright Naruto." Kakashi said drawing bells from his pocket. "I'm not going to go easy on you, I'd assume I'm going to need this." He said pulling his headband up and letting his eye take in the battlefield.

"You're gonna need a lot more than that to beat me Sensei." The younger man said drawing a kunai. At the sight of the tri-prong, Kakashi's eyes widened. His entire body tensed up, along with that of a few of his fellow jounin in the trees.

"Naruto...you?"

"Maybe...you'll just have to find out Sensei." The blond replied with a smirk.

"Begin!" Shouted the Hokage, and the two shinobi immediately leapt at each other. Four clones burst from Naruto, quickly engaging Kakashi as the younger male made for center field. He quickly peppered the surrounding trees with kunai before Kakashi had finished dispatching his clones.

The masked jounin flickered to the boy, engaging him in hand to hand. "First test: Taijutsu." He said. The blond dropped low, swinging his fist up at the jounin's face. The man quickly leaned back to avoid, only for his eyes to widen slightly as a new clone appeared and came rolling over Naruto's back, poised to cut him open with a kunai. He backpedaled and dodged to the side before bringing his leg around to impact Naruto's side. He was slightly surprised when this resulted in Naruto disappearing in a puff of smoke, signaling the use of a shadow clone. "_Did he substitute with his clone that quickly?"_

"Over here!" Yelled Naruto, and as Kakashi spun around, he was greeted with Naruto and two clones finishing hand signs. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"

"Wind Style: Open Destruction!"

"Super Wind Hurricane Combination!" The three yelled in unison, prompting everyone observing the match to sweat drop at the terrible name. The massive gale force ripped through the clearing, intend on ripping Kakashi away. The jounin knew he couldn't counter with a fire jutsu, so he was forced to retreat to the tree line.

"Wrong move Sensei." Kakashi heard Naruto's voice say from behind him.

"Ho-?" He started but was shot out of the trees into the clearing by a solid and harsh kick to the spine. He landed roughly in the clearing, but quickly regained his footing. As he stood he found himself face to face with a kunai. Said kunai became Naruto's foot, and Kakashi almost lost a few teeth. He impacted the ground but transitioned quickly back to his feet and shot off a jutsu. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" The Fire quickly ignited everything in its path, and soon a large section of the field was set ablaze. "Second test: ninjutsu."

When the fire started to die down, Naruto was gone. "_It's like fighting Minato-Sensei all over again." _Naruto appeared on a tree branch across the field. He smiled at his sensei before throwing a handful of kunai at the man. The jounin deflected them, and jumped away. Not willing to stay near the continuously dangerous knives.

Naruto flickered to life in the group of kunai, staring down his teacher. "Third test: genjut-." He was cut off as Naruto appeared behind him, moving through hand signs.

"Fuinjutsu: Limp Limb Seal!" The boy called out smacking his palm against the jounin's arm. The Limp Limb Seal was a fuinjutsu technique the boy had developed during his training trip. It did exactly what the name implied, causing the targets affected limb to go numb and become useless. The only downside was it had a range limit. This meant that unless Naruto stayed close, the seal would deactivate.

Kakashi leapt back from the blond, his left arm dangling uselessly. He stared at it in confusion, before accepting his situation. "Unfortunately for you Naruto, I can do this." His single arm came up, and with a few one handed hand signs, he shot off a jutsu. "Earth Stye: Mud River!" A massive current of mud swept across the field, intent in taking the blond with it.

"Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!" Naruto shot a huge amount of water from his mouth into the air, which then cascaded down with enough force to completely dissipate the mud river, along with a chunk of the clearing. "_I'm gonna go ahead and end this with, __that_ _jutsu."_ Naruto thought.

He had been working on a particular pet project of a sealing technique during his trip. It had been the technique that allowed him to finally beat Jiraiya in a spar, and get his way with what the Sage's next novel would be. Six clones burst to life beside the boy, and Kakashi was suddenly encircled with kunai, but before he could react, as he was still regaining his bearings from the waterfall, the kunai were all replaced with a blond clone. No matter what way he dodged, three of them managed to slap a palm on him, leaving behind a large sealing formula.

The jounin quickly dispatched the clones before turning his attention to the original. "So what did you do to me?"

"A good shinobi would never reveal his secrets to the enemy, wouldn't you say Sensei?"

"Fair enough." As soon as the jounin made his reply, the younger man was on him, kunai in hand. He swiped at the masked man's head, who quickly ducked under the swing. However; as Naruto's hand passed over Kakashi's head, he dropped the kunai. A few seconds later and Naruto was behind the man again, striking out to kick his teacher's feet out.

The older nin jumped over the leg sweep, swinging his foot down into the blond's side. The blond man flipped a kunai up into the air as he fell, before appearing above Kakashi. The whiskered chunin caught the copy nin in the back with a heel drop, but he disappeared, and in his place was a log.

Kakashi appeared across the field from him and eye smiled. "You won't get those bells at this rate, Naruto."

"Sorry, but it's over Sensei." The blond replied. This immediately piqued Kakashi's interest, so he readied himself, but he also resolved to see what happened next. The chunin stood still, closing his eyes, and focusing his chakra with a single hand seal. It took a lot of concentration to pull off this technique. Had Kakashi decided not to let him do it, he would have had shadow clones hold off the masked jounin.

"Fuinjutsu: Reverse Summoning." Naruto whispered, and he was behind Kakashi. The jounin hadn't been around any kunai, and one simple move had put him in this spot. Naruto now stood behind the man, a kunai pressed to the jounin's neck. His left arm slinked around the jounin's chest, a second kunai poised to be buried in the masked man's heart. "Sorry, you lose Kakashi." The blond finished.

"Hmmm, seems you finally got me, Naruto." The jounin agreed. Finally at this moment Jiraiya, Tsunade, and a selection of jounin came out from the trees. Rikka, Sakura, and a few nin who had came to place bets also joined them in the clearing. "So how exactly did you do that Naruto?" The jounin asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

"Well after looking at summoning contracts and studying my other new jutsu, I was able to for a contract seal that essentially summons me. Instead of summoning a toad or slug or snake, it summons me. It's essentially a low level space time seal, and I couldn't come up with a name for it. I probably won't be using it much. The seal is so large, I either have to have a lot of time to apply it, or have to use clones to apply it all at once. If one of the three hadn't touched you, the seal wouldn't have been applied." The blond shinobi elaborated.

"Don't worry Kakashi, that technique is how the brat managed to beat me in a spar." Jiraiya said.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you managed to create something like this Naruto."

"Well it takes a lot of inspiration and theory from Lord Second and Lord Fourth's jutsu." He said, not mentioning Minato as his father, considering all the nin surrounding them. "It's not nearly as fast, nor does it have the range. It also will dissipate after some time, and on top of that it takes a lot of chakra control. In fact I can barely execute the technique in the first place. It takes quite a lot of concentration in combat."

"Well damn that's pretty impressive Naruto, good work." The masked man replied.

"Thank you Sensei."

Sakura chose this moment to join in as well. "I can't believe you beat Kakashi-Sensei one on one Naruto."

"Heh, well I did so you have to believe it." The blond man replied.

"Naruto." Tsunade spoke up.

"Yes Ma'am?"

"You test is over, I now promote you to jounin."

"Wait what!?" He asked. "This was a jounin exam!?"

"That's right, and you passed, I think everyone else here would agree." The Hokage stated.

"Well thank you Ma'am, it's an honor." He replied with a bow.

"You're welcome. All of you are dismissed except for Kakashi and Jiraiya!" She yelled at the nin.

"Yes Ma'am!" Came the response all around.

"Come find me later, Naruto!" Rikka said before leaping off.

"Naruto."

"Yes Lady Hokage?"

"Make sure no one is around." At this statement the man knelt down, and placed his finger on the ground.

"We're alone, Lady Hokage."

"Good. Now Sasuke should be getting in contact with you sometime soon correct?"

"Yes Ma'am. I request a decent force to lead the assault to against Orochimaru's forces. After the situation is dealt with, Sasuke will come back for a debrief. However; we request the mission to go after Itachi Uchiha."

"If you quel the problem, and Sasuke is gauged to be strong enough, I will grant you your mission."

"Thank you Ma'am."

* * *

Rikka was currently cutting carrots up to make stew, when she was interrupted by a knock at the door. She walked briskly to the door, and looked through the peephole. Her eyes were greeted with a mop of blond hair, and she quickly pulled away to pull the door open. "Hey Naruto." She said flatly, but with a smile.

"Hey. What's up?" He asked her.

"I was making dinner, would you like to come in?"

"I have some time, so sure!" He replied. The woman quickly stepped aside and let the man into her home.

"Please have a seat." She said with her familiar monotone voice. Naruto never concerned himself with it. He knew the girl well enough to know that it was just a part of her personality. Unless it was a super emotional situation, the girl's voice never tended to change from her usual monotone.

"Rikka?"

"Yes?"

"There's something I've wanted to ask, but I've been avoiding it. It felt wrong to try to ask in a letter."

"You're here now, so you might as well just get it over with." She replied still happily working away at her stew.

"My training trip gave me enough time to come to terms with Ryuko's death. I still have the nightmares sometimes, but for the most part I'm there. The thing is, well….."

"Just spit it out Naruto." She said flatly. There was no attitude, just a blank statement.

"Do you blame me for her death?"

This actually managed to catch the marked girl off guard. That was the one question she hadn't expected. The woman quickly turned around and stared at the blond jounin blankly. "Do you really think you could even _be _to blame? How would anyone have saved her? You're an idiot. Of course I don't blame you."

"Thank you."

"Shut up idiot. If you ever blame yourself again I'll burn you." She said blankly. The blond gulped slightly in response and quickly nodded his head. "Good. Now hang around a while. This stew should only take about an hour or two."

The shinobi stayed in each other's company until the stew was finished. They chatted about things, and the blond told short stories about his adventures with his sensei. The woman informed him of the story behind her becoming a chunin, and of many other interesting experiences she had during his absence.

As they continued, a thought slowly crept into the back of the blond's head. Rikka was cute. But he couldn't help but feel terrible. This was his dead girlfriend's best friend. How could he possibly betray Ryuko like that? It was so wrong, but he knew Rikka so well now, and she was amazing. "_It's been three years you stupid fuck. She'd want you to move on." _He thought to himself angrily. "_But would she really?" _He thought sadly.

Rikka had a heavy dilemma, on one hand she knew she loved the boy from her childhood. He might not remember, but they knew each other long ago. Long before Naruto had met Iruka, she had been his actual first friend. Only the whispers of the villagers and other children had kept her away soon after their meeting.

On the other hand, this boy, was the former boyfriend of her deceased best friend. The girl who had cared for her since the day they met in the first days of the academy. She couldn't help but wonder how Ryuko would feel about her pursuing the raven/redhead's boyfriend. Not only that, but Naruto would be so angry that she could just forget about Ryuko in favor of him. She was disgusted with herself.

Naruto's curiosity had finally got the better of him now. He had to ask about that orange scarf. It just seemed more like something he would wear more than something she would. "Rikka how did you ever get a hold of-" He was cut off bout a loud pop, and a puff of smoke as the messenger toad Shitsujun appeared.

"Yo! Master Naruto, I've got an urgent message from…. uh a friend." He trailed off realizing that another person was in the room.

Naruto's eyes narrowed seriously at the toad. "From _him_? Is it time?"

"Yes sir." He said handing Naruto a scroll.

"Got it. Thank you Shitsujun, you can go now." The toad nodded before disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Naruto, what was he talking about?" Rikka asked.

"I'm sorry Rikka, it's an S-rank secret. I have to go, we can talk again another time." He said moving quickly to the door.

"Naruto wait what's going on?"

The blond turned his head to face her, and flashed her a smile. "Don't worry about it Rikka, I'll be back soon." He told her before disappearing out the door.

* * *

A single shinobi appeared, kneeling before the Hokage.

"Yes?"

"It's time Ma'am."

"He sent his message?"

"Yes Ma'am. He's requested my assistance in taking out the target. Shinobi will be needed to deal with the rest of the enemy forces while we battle him."

"I understand, I'll be sending a chunin platoon, with a few jounin mixed in to go with you. You will explain everything to them as you go, and inform them not to attack Uchiha Sasuke."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Get on with it then."

* * *

Naruto, Kakashi, and Yamato stood before a platoon of chunin. Naruto had been introduced to Yamato earlier that day, and the two shinobi had taken a liking to each other. Kakashi had been happy to see that the blond was able to get the wood user to lighten up a bit.

Among the chunin platoon, stood some of the survivors from the Otogakure massacre. They were happy to serve under the leadership of the Uzumaki. Others among the platoon included Team Ten, Rikka and her team, as well as Team Eight. Naruto had been assigned to lead the assault, as Kakashi thought it would be a good experience for him. However; the blond had assigned Yamato to take over leadership while Naruto and Kakashi join Sasuke to battle Orochimaru.

Naruto looked over the platoon and spoke loudly. "Listen up, I don't want to repeat myself. Orochimaru intends to try to overthrow the leadership of Kusagakure. This will not happen, we will be joining with some grass nin to battle his forces. Once contact is initiated, Yamato will take over command. Hatake and I will be joining Uchiha Sasuke in battling Orochimaru. Yes you heard that right. Uchiha Sasuke is a spy and still an asset of Konohagakure. Do not engage him by any means. He is a friendly. Understood?"

Murmurs spread through the platoon quickly, and small conversations began to pop up. "I said, is that understood?!" Yelled the blond jounin.

"Yes sir!" Came the joint call of the platoon, having been reeled back in by Naruto's commanding tone.

"Alright let's get a damn move on!"

* * *

"Kabuto! Bring Sasuke here, I'm tired of waiting."

"Yes my Lord." The silver haired man said, before approaching the Sannin.

"Kabuto I said go get him!"

"He's already here my Lord." Said the man as his hair began to bleed into a black color. A sword appeared from thin air, and was swung toward the Sannin's neck. A snake caught the blade in its jaws, but was fried to death by electricity as a lightning coating burst down the blade.

Orochimaru managed to put distance between himself and his attacker, before immediately counter attacking. "I should have known you would betray me, you vile Uchiha! No matter! You'll make a wonderful vessel!"

"How can I betray you, if I was never loyal in the first place. This was all a plan to assassinate you!" The youngest Uchiha shouted. The pale man quickly drew his sword from his stomach, and the two began a slightly unusual sword battle. It wasn't everyday you saw someone fight with a sword that stuck out of their throat. They crossed blades once again, and Sasuke's eyes burned to life. His Sharingan blazed as they predicted each of Orochimaru's moves. His Chidori ignited down the length of his sword, and moved to take the man's arm off. His sword cut clean through, but the limb shifted to a pile of snakes, and Orochimaru appeared behind him.

"You never cease to impress me Sasuke….kukuku. However; you're still too young to defeat me. On top of that, I have this." He said dangerously as he drew a mask from his robe. "I found out about this, I intended to take your body first, but I had a feeling you might betray me. So I had my loyal Kabuto retrieve it for me." He quickly placed the mask over his face and cut open his own abdomen. "Kabuto come!"

"Yes my Lord!" The silver haired man said as he appeared beside the Sannin and began healing him.

"What did you just do?" Asked the wary Uchiha.

"I've got my arms back boy!" He said flashing through hand seals at an alarming rate. "Wind Style: Vacuum Blast!" He yelled, and a massive blast of air carved a destructive path toward Sasuke.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"

"Wind Style: Open Destruction!"

"Super Wind Hurricane Combination!" Shouted the three voices of the same person. The massive combination completely overtook Orochimaru's technique, blasting the Sannin across the room.

"Sasuke!" Came a loud shout as a figure landed next to the Uchiha.

"You're late, Naruto."

"Heh, you just got impatient."

After which, all hell broke loose. Konoha shinobi burst through walls, and sections of the compound were destroyed with explosives.

"You two remind me sickly of your mothers. How fitting then." The snake said spitefully

"What are you planning?" Questioned Sasuke.

"Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation!" The snake yelled slamming his palms to the ground. Two coffins burst out of the ground, slamming to a halt as they breached the surface. The coffins shook slightly before the lids fell open. As the two figures stepped out, the Uchiha and the Uzumaki could only ask one thing as they stared on in disbelief.

"Mom!?"

* * *

_**Well that's all for now kiddos. I'll try to get the next chapter out by Sunday, but no promises. I've got a lot going on and it's hard to find time to write. But I'm still working away, don't worry I won't abandon this. Anyways, Darling in the Fox out!**_


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty One**

_**Heyo, back again kiddos. Sorry for the wait, but it is here! Enjoy! ;) I'll try to update quicker, but I hit serious writer's block with this chapter.**_

_**Alright so something I'd like to get out of the way here. Most of my reviews are absolutely amazing and I love you. However; some of them I'd just like to say, if you don't like how my plot goes, don't read it. For the record I want to let it be known that a lot of training is implied and I would hope you could fill smaller things in on your own. Although if you dislike things, I still encourage you to continue reading. There are some seriously cool fights and things planned for the future. I always hope to please and hope you enjoy reading. Many things that couldn't happen in canon can be simply explained by the fact that this is an **__**AU Fanfiction. **__**It's meant to deviate from canon. Anyway, sorry for the rambling please continue to read and enjoy this story. And I strongly encourage you to review and tell me your thoughts. Even the bad ones. But please take into consideration some of these things before you just go jotting down some crap. I'm all for criticism and pointing out things that are wrong but think before you write. Love you guys, even those of you who don't like me.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto does. If I did, I'd be drinking good alcohol right now.**_

* * *

"Mom!?" Came the flabbergasted voices of Naruto and Sasuke. The two figures slowly stepped out of the coffins before they looked at each other.

"Kushina?"

"Mikoto?"

The two reanimations looked away from each other and stared at their children.

"Naruto….."

"My little Sasuke…"

The redhead burst into a wide grin at her son. "Honey...you're all grown up. Look at you, I never thought I'd get to see you again."

"Sasuke dear...how you've grown."

The youngest of the Uchiha brothers stared on in shock at his mother. "Mother…" His eyes turned hateful and he shifted his gaze to the Snake Sannin. "How dare you! I'll kill you!"

"Mom….I've wanted so bad to meet you...I know so much about you, but I never got to hear your voice." Naruto said as he smiled sadly at his mother.

Orochimaru launched forward and shoved control talismans in the necks of both women. He quickly interrupted the conversation. "How touching. But you can catch up while you kill each other."

Kushina stiffened before she launched forward at her son, a kunai in hand. "Naruto! Here I come be ready." The blond quickly drew a tri-prong and countered the strike. The man was a storm of emotions. He had finally got to see his mother, but he had to fight her. She kicked him in the stomach, and jumped away. Biting her thumb she swiped it over her forearm causing a seal to appear. In a puff of smoke, a black katana appeared. The hilt landed in her grip, and she looked sadly at her son. "Naruto….please be careful, I'm being forced to get serious."

"It's fine mom, I'm your son, I'll deal." He said gaining a serious look. He quickly took his fighting stance. The two launched forward and began another clash.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sasuke was in a predicament. He thought he was skilled with a sword, but it turned out he was nothing in comparison to his mother. He quickly brought his weapon to bare as the Uchiha matriarch brought a forceful slice down at his shoulder. The two locked blades, and their Sharingan eyes locked on each other.

"Mother….why did Itachi kill the clan?" Sasuke asked.

Mikoto was slightly taken aback by the question, but answered in kind. "My little Sasuke….." She said, swinging her sword around as the male jumped over the blade. "That is something I cannot tell you. Only Itachi can tell you why _he _slaughtered the clan. But I can tell you this my son." Sasuke was forced to leap away a she shot a massive fireball toward him. "Itachi loves you, unconditionally. My Sharingan had already read your mind when we locked eyes, and a saw everything. I don't know why Itachi chose the path he took, but one day….you should ask him my son." She finished launching another massive blast of fire toward him. The male Uchiha quickly countered with a fireball of his own. "Now focus! Things are about to get serious!"

"Right!" The raven haired man said, as he launched back into the battle with his mother.

* * *

"You fight a lot like your father, and you got his hair. Looks like you got my face and my verbal tic though. Sorry about that y'know!"

"Mother, I'm extremely happy I got your face, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." Naruto replied as he was forced to dodge the sword that had attempted to pierce his back. As it turned out, his mother's chakra chains could wield her sword as if they were her hands.

"You've grown into a fine young man Naruto."

"Thank you mom."

"Naruto…." She said, dodging the impact of a Rasengan that was intended for her chest. "You need to stop holding back."

"I'm not holding back mother." He replied as he flickered away from her. He quickly palmed a new set of kunai and let them fly at the person who had brought him to this world.

"You and I both know you're lying! Y'know!" She said angrily as she swung her sword down at him. The blond was crouched low before her and quickly brought his tri-prong up, and locked Kushina's blade with his own. He quickly kicked her feet out from underneath her and flipped backwards. "I know you want to talk to me and ask me things Naruto...but I don't belong in this world...it's wrong for me to be alive again. You need to get serious."

"I am!" He yelled frustration evident on his face. He saw a distance away was the Snake Sannin watching intently as they battled. The blond dodged a swing of her sword, and came up with a swipe of his kunai. The blade removed his mother's arm, and he leapt away as it slowly began to reform. Naruto was mad. He could usually control his emotions, but as of now seeing his mother used as a weapon had him fumeing. He threw a kunai that impacted the ground behind his mother. Quickly he appeared behind her, Rasengan charged in his hand. The jutsu rammed into the lower back of the reanimation, causing catastrophic damage.

As Kushina's lower torso slowly began to reform, Naruto formed three shadow clones. The clones quickly surrounded the woman in a triangular formation. He quickly ran through hand seals while the clones did the same. He looked sadly at his mother before he spoke. "Mother...I wish we could have had more time together. I love you, thank you for being my mom. You've been the driving force for my entire shinobi career." As he spoke tears began to fall from his face, his emotions taking hold. He closed his eyes momentarily, and that was when Kakashi arrived on scene.

"I love you too, Naruto." Said Kushina as she prepared to meet Minato once again.

This was the sight Kakashi was greeted with as he landed behind his student. He watched as the blond close his eyes, before he finished the hand seals to seal away his mother. "Fuinjutsu: Three Pillar Sealing Technique." Said the blond, as his clones turned into three solid pillars of chakra that closed in on his mother before glowing brightly. Naruto walked forward, and pulled his scroll from his back. "Goodbye Mother." He said as he laid a smaller scroll down beside her. The chakra slowly flowed like a small stream across the ground forming a large sealing array on the scroll. The blond then sealed it away inside his larger one before quickly sealing the sword she had left behind away as well. After which he rolled up the large scroll, and replaced it on his back.

"Naruto...was that?"

"Yes….that was my mother."

"I'm sorry kiddo."

"It's alright Sensei."

* * *

"You're a fine man now Sasuke. I'm very proud of you."

"Thank you mother." The Uchiha replied as he sent lightning through his sword that was currently buried in her abdomen. The lightning ripped down the blade an blew a massive hole through her chest.

"That's still not going to be enough Sasuke." She said with worry.

"It's alright, I don't have to do it on my own." He replied feeling his blond teammate land beside him. Quickly they were forced to dodge as the deceased mother swung her sword where their heads had been seconds ago. "I have friends, and people who care for me. I'll do alright on my own." She fired off a fireball at the boys, and they quickly countered with their own combo. Sasuke's fireball slammed into his mother's, but with Naruto's wind amplification, it quickly overpowered the jutsu.

"I'm happy to hear that Sasuke." She said to the boy as she charged at them once again.

"Sasuke! Can you hold her down?" The blond yelled, a plan quickly forming in his head.

"Yeah I can! Keep her busy for a second!" The raven haired man yelled in response. The blond quickly leapt forward, catching the blade of Mikoto's weapon in the prong of his kunai. He grabbed her, slammed a Rasengan into her chest, and tossed her away. As she landed he leapt back to the once brooding man's side.

"You must be Kushina's boy right? You're the spitting image of her and Minato." She said addressing the newcomer.

"Heh that's me, Uzumaki Naruto, at your service."

"Please, look after my son Naruto."

"You can count on me. He's my best friend after all." The blond said, his smile bright as ever. "Now Sasuke!"

"Lightning Style: Lightning Chain Prison!" Suddenly chains of lightning shot out from the ground, stabbing through the wrists and ankles of his mother, before wrapping around her and pinning her in place.

Naruto ran up to her quickly, yanking his scroll from his back. He unfurled it to a blank section, and in seconds had a formula drawn out. "Uzumaki Fuinjutsu: Soul Binding Technique."

* * *

After seeing Naruto remove his mother from the battlefield Orochimaru immediately made the decision to flee. The blond and the Uchiha were problematic enough on their own, but including Kakashi and the wood user, it was overkill.

Unfortunately when Orochimaru moved to leave the large underground room, he was stopped by a large purple barrier. "Uzumaki Fuinjutsu: Six Point Barricade." Said the blond ninja as he appeared not far from the Sannin. "You're not going anywhere Snake."

"You'll pay for ripping our mothers from their peaceful rest." The Uchiha said, as he came into existence behind the pale man, running him through with his blade.

With the Sannin impaled, Naruto made his move. He quickly appeared before the man, and began drawing out seals while Sasuke began to electrocute the wannabe immortal. As the blond finished the formula, he was interrupted when the Kusanagi shot from the man's mouth. The blond was barely able to dodge a fatal wound, instead having the sword run through his thigh.

With the blond out of the way momentarily, the Sannin continued his counterstrike. His serpents burst from the ground behind the Uchiha, and bound him as Orochimaru walked off the blade, while he retracted his own. Another group of snakes also appeared, grabbing the Uzumaki boy and held him down. "I'm actually mad now. I haven't felt anger this strong in a long time. I'll be taking your body now, Sasuke." He said with a sickening predatory smile.

As the man was only inches from the Uchiha's face, a sound filled the room. The chirping of birds broke through the air as Kakashi's lightning blade ripped through the snakes the held Sasuke hostage.

"Sasuke!" The masked nin yelled, as he plunged his hand through Orochimaru's torso.

"Right!" The raven responded throwing his sword in a wide arc. Ninja wire reeled out from its handle, and with a hard pull Sasuke changed it's trajectory. The sword flew wide, swinging around and taking out the snakes holding the seal master down. Naruto quickly leapt from the ground, still favoring his wounded leg. Three clones burst to life, and all slapped their palms onto the Sannin's body. A Fuinjutsu formula quickly formed over the Sannin, which caused the man great alarm.

He pushed Kakashi's hand from his torso, and quickly leapt away. The faked traitor, and his Sensei quickly rushed to engage the man, while the blond hung back. The masked man ducked under a swing from the Sannin's sword, and as soon as it passed over him, the Uchiha used him as a springboard to launch into the air above the man. "Fire Style: Searing Migraine!" He yelled as he blasted the snake with a massive onslaught of flames.

"Water Style: Water Wall: Enclosure!" The Sannin yelled, as four walls of water formed around him, and one took the position overhead. This cube of water negated the fire jutsu, and left the snake man unharmed.

"Fuinjutsu: Reverse Summoning!" Came the soft yell of Naruto, and he suddenly appeared behind the oldest in the room. His buried a kunai in each of the man's shoulders and used them as a handhold to wretch the man to the ground. Using the headhunter jutsu, four clones hands burst from the ground below the man, each grabbing onto his body and holding him in place. Not even a second later, Naruto had his scroll rolled open beside the man, and quickly executed his formula. "Uzumaki Forbidden Fuinjutsu: Body Repossession of Izanagi." The spiritual form of the god of life came to existence behind the blond jounin. The astral form grabbed hold of the Sannin, and with a pained scream, the snake was pulled away from the realm of the living, with no body to be left behind. His soul would forever wander the earth.

"Naruto what did you just do?" Asked Kakashi.

"Well if one has enough chakra, they can use this sealing technique without dying." He said panting heavily. "But the strain put on the users body is immense. And effectively removes them….from the….battlefie-..." He trailed off as he collapsed from bodily exhaustion. Kakashi quickly caught the boy, and laid him gently to the ground. "Sensei we need to remove Sasuke's curse mark. Orochimaru...can be brought back with it. When I remove it...it'll bring him out, you'll need to kill him again. And seal his body away with this formula." He said as he slowly drew a new sealing formula out on the scroll.

The blond handed the scroll to Kakashi, and motioned for Sasuke to come to him. "Sasuke sit down."

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow, before sitting cross legged next to Naruto. The jounin slowly pushed himself from the ground and stood over his friend. "I've spent a lot of my time since coming back studying Anko's seal. I developed this to remove it. I'm using you as a test subject because your too stubborn to die from this."

"Wait wha-..." Sasuke moved to question his friend but was interrupted when Naruto placed his palm over the seal and made hand signs with his opposite hand.

"Fuinjutsu: Curse Seal Purge and Removal!" Sasuke screamed out in pain as the blond's seal did it's work. It purged the chakra from the mark, and forced Orochimaru out. As soon as the snake man was out, Kakashi slammed his chidori into his chest. He grabbed hold of the formula Naruto had made, and activated it with a hand seal. Streams of kanji and unrecognizable characters wrapped around Orochimaru. As they fully enveloped him, he screamed in agony as they ripped away his chakra and life force. Once he had been drained, the seals slowly retracted back into the scroll, and they carried the body with them.

With this, Naruto finally collapsed once again, but this time he was forced into unconsciousness. "Well, Sasuke are you alright?"

The Uchiha winced and stood slowly. "Yeah, I'll live, can we go back now?"

"Sure thing." Kakashi said with an eye smile.

* * *

"So that's it, he's dead?" Asked the blond Hokage

"Yes ma'am. As far as we know, everyone with the curse mark is dead, and Naruto is currently in the process of removing Anko's. The only bad news we have to report from the operation, is that Kabuto was not located during any of the fighting, he is still at large." The masked jounin reported.

"Alright good, I'll keep hunter teams out looking for him. Sasuke."

"Yes Ma'am?"

"Welcome back from your mission, all of this will be reported to the village tomorrow, and your status as a missing nin will be removed." She said folding her hands and resting her chin upon them.

"Thank you Ma'am. I'd like permission to go after the rogue ninja Uchiha Itachi."

"No, not yet. Your strength is to be evaluated. You shall be tested against Kakashi, and/or Naruto. There we will determine if your are capable of taking the mission you request."

"I assure you ma'am I am of the utmost capabili-.." Sasuke started but was interrupted by the blond woman.

"I don't care, this will happen. I've no doubt you're capable, but the rest of the jounin command structure needs to see your skills before you leap into the fray." She countered. The Uchiha moved to counter with his own argument, but was stopped when the door to the office opened.

"Jeez S'ke you act like you _don't _want to fight me."

"Naruto."

"Just go along with it. It won't take long you stubborn fool."

"Fine."

"Alright." The Hokage cut in. "The test will be at training ground seven. Be there at sunrise."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Sasuke, head home, rest and prepare yourself. Kakashi, Naruto, stay here. I'm not done with you yet." As she finished, the Uchiha excused himself from the room, and the two remaining shinobi stood before their leader.

"Kakashi, Naruto. You two will be leading a special team to hunt down Akatsuki members. Uchiha Itachi will be handled by Naruto and Sasuke, assuming the Uchiha proves strong enough. Kakashi, you, Yamato, and Gai will escort the two of them on their way to find Uchiha Itachi."

"Understood Ma'am. Anything else?

"Nothing more for you Naruto, you may go. Kakashi, begin collection of intel we have on every possible member of the organization, and set up a briefing packet. Also get a readout of all of Itachi's known abilities put into a packet for Naruto."

"Yes Ma'am will do."

* * *

"Ready Sasuke?"

"Of course I am, idiot."

"Don't underestimate me Sasuke. I'm leagues above what I was when you left."

"So am I."

"Shut up both of you. Now, begin!" Yelled the blond Hokage. Almost instantly after she finished, the grounds were littered with tri-prong kunai. Sasuke's Sharingan flashed to life, and he focused in on Naruto. The blond was behind him in seconds, his body flicker almost blowing Sasuke's expectations out of the water.

A kunai swung down for the Uchiha's shoulder, and was barely stopped by his quick reflexes with his sword. Lightning instantly surrounded the black haired man's body, before blasting out from around him like an urchin. The lightning spikes forced Naruto to substitute away, one of his clones he had hidden immediately taking the full force of the attack. "That's new."

"I call it Lightning Style: Porcupine Technique. It's useful." The sole loyal Uchiha said.

"That it is." Replied the blond. The Uchiha quickly appeared behind the blond in motion of a sword swing. Naruto barely caught it with his kunai. "Your flicker is better than it was, but it's still yet to surpass mine. But you've made tons of progress, I'm impressed. Keep it up." The blond commented as they engaged in a battle with their blades. Naruto dual wielded his kunai to combat Sasuke's sword.

"I'll beat your flicker someday."

"Sure ya will." The blond laughed. "Now show me that's not all you've got with your lightning. I expect more than a glorified pin cushion defense." As he finished he flickered a distance away and fired off a wind jutsu. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

"Fire Style: Phoenix Inferno Takeover!" A massive bird made of fire blasted from Sasuke's mouth. It opened its huge beak and swallowed the wind jutsu, using it as fuel to enhance the technique even farther.

Naruto's eyes widened slightly, he definitely hadn't expected that. "Water Style: Great Waterfall Jutsu!" He proceeded to blast a massive stream of water into the air, causing it to come crashing down atop the phoenix. "Now that was impressive." He commented.

"I developed it to solely deal with you damn wind users." The Uchiha said with a confident smirk.

"Maybe it's time I get serious then." The blond replied.

"No! The match is over. I've seen enough. You two will tear this place apart if I let you continue. That fire jutsu you developed is easily an A-rank jutsu. That's gonna be enough for me to call it. Uchiha Sasuke, I now promote you to jounin." The blond Hokage finished as she made her way in between the ninja.

"Thank you Ma'am." He said giving her a slight bow.

"You're welcome. Now, both of you have my full permission to begin your hunt of the Akatsuki members. Get some rest for a few days, you begin next week. Grab Kakashi, Gai, and Yamato, and head out when your ready."

* * *

Naruto spent the next week hanging out with Rikka, and working with his new team in analysing the abilities of the known Akatsuki members. The only ones they had confirmed were Itachi, and Kisame. Along with Hidan and Kakuzu, but the latter two were already dead. They studied and strategized, and before they knew it there was only a day left.

Naruto sat in his kitchen, eating and looking over one of the reported sightings of Itachi. He moved to take another bite, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. He stood, and quickly made his way over. Opening it, he greeted his favorite person. "Hey Rikka."

"Naruto. How are you?"

"I'm good, and you?"

"Oh not so bad. Are you busy? Could I come in maybe?"

"Nah, just looking over some stuff. Sure make yourself at home." She walked in as he stood aside. He closed the door, and sat with her at his table. "So what brings you here? I thought you had a mission today?"

"It was canceled, the client managed to solve the problem before we even left. I heard you have a mission yourself."

"Damnit, Gai must have been blabbing again huh? Yeah we do, but it's a high priority one." He replied.

"Is….it another S-rank?"

"Yeah it is, I'm sorry I can't really talk about it."

She looked down at the ground, but her facial expression was still monotone along with her voice. "Naruto….you've been on a lot of those lately haven't you?" She questioned without ever looking up.

"Yeah I suppose I have." He said with a laugh. "The village says jump, I say how high."

"Naruto…" She said, and trailed off as she stood from her chair. She motioned him to follow her as she walked out to his balcony.

"What is it Rikka?"

Turning around to face him, she showed a rare look of emotion on her face. "Please...please be careful. I….care a lot about you, and I can't lose you like we lost Ryuko…"

The tall blond leaned down slightly, and laid his hand on her shoulder. "Rikka, I'm strong. I won't go down easy."

She gave him the rarest glimpse of how she looked when she was angry, and even raised her voice. "That's not it! I don't want you to get hurt!"

"Alright. I'll be as careful as possible, I promise."

"That's better." She said blankly.

He started to turn around as if to lead them back into the house, but he was stopped when she suddenly wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him lightly. He managed to hear her faintly whisper, "please come back safe." He smiled at her words, and offered to cook dinner. They ate happily, sharing comments about the latest events around the village. After a while, he walked her home, and left to prepare for the start of his team's mission the next morning.

* * *

_**Okay, first off, shorter chapter, and it's late. I'm sorry, I struggled to figure out how I wanted to write this chapter. It's probably a little more bland and dry than you're used to, and for that I apologize. I'm already excited to write the next chapter however; so I think that will go well. Please bare with me as I fight the writer's block. Hope this was at least an interesting read today. I'll try to write and edit the next one ASAP. Until then, please be patient. Sincerely yours, Darling in the Fox.**_

_**P.S. Rikka has been drawn! Someone who was awesome to work with me so well despite the English to German language barrier drew rikka for me go check her out at **__** haruleiiinx33/art/Hinazuki-Rikka-oc-for-darlinginthefox-800946393**_ _**please give this wonderful artist support!**_

_**Fuinjutsu: Three Pillar Sealing Technique- developed by Uzumaki Naruto, the user forms three shadow clones that surround the target in a triangular formation. Using the shadow clone's chakra as a base, the clones are converted into pillars of chakra that slowly close in and seal away the target.**_

_**Uzumaki Fuinjutsu: Soul Binding Technique- developed by early Uzumaki, this technique essentially rips the soul from the body, and puts it in a contract with the sealer. The soul can Rest In Peace if the user wishes, but can also be forced to remain dormant for eternity.**_

_**Uzumaki Fuinjutsu: Six Point Barricade- developed by the Uzumaki clan, this was originally designed for use by six members combining their chakra from six different points to form a barrier. Uzumaki Naruto would later adapt it for use with shadow clones in place of the other members.**_

_**Uzumaki Forbidden Fuinjutsu: Body Repossession of Izanagi- a highly complicated and dangerous seal hidden in the many notes possessed by Uzumaki Kushina. Found later by Naruto. This seal calls upon the god of life, Izanagi, to repo the body of the target. Instead of the soul being ripped from the body, as the soul binding technique would, this rips the body from the soul. Commonly killing the user from chakra and physical exhaustion. To survive the use, one must possess massive chakra reserves, but also be of peak physical strength.**_

_**Please leave a review if you ever need me to explain any of my original techniques better.**_


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty Two**

_**Hey guys, I'm back. Hope you like this chapter. Also I changed the summary cause the story has kinda evolved. So check that out I guess.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto does. If I did, I wouldn't be writing in my truck before work.**_

* * *

Kisame was thoroughly impressed at the capability and skill of Maito Gai. A man was stalemating him with pure taijutsu. He certainly was a formidable opponent. The shark man's only real problem, was that not only did he face Gai, but Kakashi of the Sharingan, along with a Konohagakure Jounin with possession of the First Hokage's wood style. He'd let the Uchiha boy pass, as it was Itachi's wish to face him. What had pissed him off was when the Nine Tails brat managed to slip by him to support Sasuke.

* * *

"Are you here to kill me Sasuke? Going to take me out?" The elder Uchiha asked in a stoic voice.

"No…" the younger brother said, reaching up and tightening his head band.

"_We're_ gonna take you down!" Said Naruto as the blond appeared beside his friend, dual tri-prong kunai drawn and ready.

"You can try. You obviously lack the resolve to become strong enough to face me. You couldn't even kill your best friend." Spoke Itachi as he stood from his throne.

"The strength we have when we fight together, is far greater than the strength your eyes possess brother." Replied Sasuke, spitting the last word with a dangerous venom.

"We've got questions for you Itachi. You gonna talk? Or should we beat it out of you?" Naruto asked, his eyes focused on the feet of the elder Uchiha. He remembered the day Kakashi had taught him how to face the Sharingan.

**Flashback **

"_Alright Naruto. If you ever have to face Itachi, you don't have a choice but to fight differently. You cannot afford to make eye contact. If you do Itachi will waste no time putting you under a genjutsu. That man can cast genjutsu with a simple pointing of his finger. You should only fight him if you have either Sasuke or I as backup. Focus on his feet and torso. Read his body's movements and react accordingly. It's difficult, but doable, and you don't have a choice."_

**Flashback end**

"The fate of the Mangekyou Sharingan is one of blindness. The power that slowly destroys itself."

"So there's more than one price to that kind of power." The younger brother replied drawing his sword. "Naruto!"

"Yup! Got it!" The room was suddenly filled with clones as the duo made their move. The blond clones littered the room with sealing formula. Sasuke and Itachi locked eyes, beginning an unseen genjutsu battle. Naruto threw a kunai and appeared behind the elder Uchiha, and slammed his blade into the man's temple. Itachi fell dead before disappearing in a murder of crows as the world around the blond began to melt. Itachi appeared before him, and shot his kunai straight for the blond's heart. The scene shattered as Sasuke's Sharingan forced Naruto from the genjutsu of his brother.

"You're genjutsu is impressive kid brother, but what will you do now?" He asked kicking Naruto into the wall and slashing his kunai threw the man's stomach. He appeared before his brother and quickly battered down the younger man. He pinned him to the wall, and moved his hand to Sasuke's eye. "Uchiha Madara once took the eye of his brother. Implanting it into his own, he achieved a power beyond your comprehension. The eternal Mangekyou, a light that will never fade, never weaken, and never flicker out. That is why I kept you alive, to have your eyes as my replacement." As he finished he ripped the man's eye out. He was forced away as lightning blast from all of the tenketsu on Sasuke's body, signifying the use of his porcupine technique.

As the younger brother struggled with the pain, and forced himself to his feet. Itachi placed the taken eye in a jar filled with a liquid to preserve it. He then approached slowly, intent on removing the other eye from his sibling. A clone popped up from behind the Konoha shinobi, grabbing hold of him, and holding him in place for the eye to be removed. As the traitor began to push the eye out of its socket the world around him shattered.

Sasuke stood once again, both Sharingan burning as he stared down his brother. Itachi collapsed to his knees, holding his left eye. "You broke through my Tsukuyomi? How?"

"I've trained and strengthened my self to deal with your incredible genjutsu." He replied.

"Then it seems genjutsu will get us nowhere." Said the elder, closing his right eye and preparing the black flames. Sasuke simply smirked in response as Naruto appeared beside the elder Uchiha, kicking him away toward the wall. Before he could even impact it, Sasuke appeared kicking him toward the ceiling. As the man flew upwards he smiled, and landed feet first on the ceiling. As he hung there he watched as Naruto appeared beside his brother.

The blond placed his hand upon the younger man's shoulder, and smirked as Sasuke prepared a Chidori. "Fuinjutsu: Reverse Summoning." He whispered, and Sasuke disappeared, and reappeared next to his brother. His lightning blade impacted where his brother had stood, forcing him through the ceiling. Sasuke was immediately on the roof in pursuit.

The brothers stared each other down, before both weaving through hand seals. In unison they shouted, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" The two massive firestorms ripped into each other, Sasuke's quickly taking the upper hand.

"Amaterasu!" Rang our Itachi's voice as he conjured the black flames at will. They quickly consumed Sasuke's fireball, burning it away.

"This is nothing." Replied the younger Uchiha, running across the outskirts of the roof. The elder brother ignited his Amaterasu, burning a path behind the younger man as it chased him. It quickly caught up however; and set Sasuke's jounin vest ablaze. Sasuke shed the vest, and before Itachi could reignite him, Naruto appeared by his side.

"Fuinjutsu: Reverse Summoning!" They disappeared, and reappeared in the internals of the hide out.

"Naruto let's do it."

"Right." He replied, and two clones formed beside him.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" Yelled Sasuke.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Yelled the original blond.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Came the call of the first clone.

"Wind Style: Great Vacuum Bullet!" Rang the voice of the second one.

What occurred next was an absolute nightmare of a firestorm. It ripped apart the rooftop, fire scorching everything in its path. Itachi was forced to jump away as the massive column of fire ripped into the sky. Itachi stood looking on in awe at the destructive power of the duo.

Itachi crouched shakily over the edge of the massive rip in the roof. His breathing was labored and his Sharingan in his right eye had reverted to normal.

Sasuke stood shakily by Naruto, the blond beginning to feel the effects on his chakra reserves. The teleportation fuinjutsu he had developed still took quite a toll on his reserves.

"That Amaterasu of yours seems to have taken a lot out of you." Spoke Sasuke, glaring at his brother.

"Don't play like your not out of chakra yourself younger brother. It seems your blond friend will have to do the fighting for you now."

"Naruto…" Said Sasuke glancing at his teammate. "It's time… I have to do this alone now."

Naruto looked as Sasuke with a slight sadness in his eyes. "I understand. I don't approve but I understand."

"Watch from a distance. If he kills me don't let him get away." The younger sibling said.

"You have my word." Naruto replied, and disappeared from the battlefield.

"Now your singular advantage is gone foolish brother."

"I'm out of chakra, but if you truly believe I would come here to kill you without being prepared. Well you wouldn't be as smart as I thought." He stood, facing down his sibling with all his might. He stepped forward before he spoke again. "This jutsu cannot be blocked, dodged, or evaded. I'll destroy you with this." He said angrily.

A distance away, Naruto sat atop a rock watching them. "_So you've really done it huh Sasuke. I almost doubted you when you told me you'd mastered lightning. Let alone created this jutsu."_

The younger sibling channeled lightning to his hand before leaping to the highest point of the roof top. "This jutsu is called Kirin." He said as the lightning above him reached a peak in reactivity. "I simply guide the lightning down from the heavens." He said with a small chuckle. A massive dragon of lightning formed above him, and this caused Itachi's eyes to widen in shock and awe. "Now be gone with the thunderclap." With this he swiped his hand downward, sending the massive bolt of electricity at his foe. With a massive explosion their battlefield was obliterated.

Sasuke stood shakily, he watched the battlefield and saw where his brother lay. He fell to his knees, and his Sharingan deactivated. He simply bowed his head, and let out a small sigh of relief.

"Is this the end you've envisioned for me brother?" Came the voice of his enemy. He stood, and his brother rose as well. "I'd definitely be dead if I hadn't have had this." Spoke the man, as an astral projection of a massive skeleton from the torso up formed around him. "I'm going to reveal to you my final trump card. _This_, is the Susanoo." Muscle and armor began to form around the skeletal body, the monstrous jutsu coming to life. "This also took root in these eyes of my. Is that all you had Sasuke? The battle is just beginning."

He and his astral protector began to march forward to his sibling. "Now I will take your eyes foolish brother." He said before suddenly letting out a loud cough. His hand came up and he clutched at his heart. He coughed more before falling forward and spitting a large amount of blood into his hand. "_My illness… time must be almost up." _

Sasuke took advantage, and quickly tossed a set of kunai with attached paper bombs. This resulted in a large explosion, but through the smoke, Itachi marched ever forward. Thinking quickly the younger brother jump forward, attacking with his sword but was instantly repelled. "_How!? Are you invincible Itachi?" _He questioned in his mind. For the first time since _that_ night, Sasuke felt real terror. He slowly backed away, mind racing and panic setting in, until he found himself pressed against a wall.

As Itachi reached out for his eyes, the words of his mother filled his mind. He had too many unanswered questions. He forced everything he had left into his eyes, conjuring chakra from pure will power. His Sharingan sprang to life, and he managed to cast one final jutsu. "Sharingan: Slow Time."

The siblings found themselves in a small and calm forest clearing. Itachi looked around in slight surprise before focusing in on his brother. "Itachi….I have one question for you."

"Hn." The man replied stoically.

"We have an hour here before this jutsu fizzles out. Itachi…. I met mother. She spoke words to me that I cannot get out of my head. Orochimaru brought her back with the Summoning: Impure World Resurrection. Mother said to me, that you love me unconditionally. And that she was unsure on why you chose the path you did. I can tell a lot of this has been fabricated. Too many loose ends. Too many things don't add up. It may have tricked me had Naruto not put doubts in my head and opened my eyes long ago. But as of now, I ask you why did you kill the clan, what is this all about? Why did you leave me all alone brother?"

Itachi's eyes widened at the mention of his mother, and his gaze softened slightly at his brothers explanation. "Sasuke…"

"Itachi. I'm here for the truth now, nothing else. When I went home after destroying Orochimaru, I found every hidden compartment in the clan compound. I searched every single nook and cranny. Until I came upon the documents. I know the clan was planning a coup d'etat. That's why you killed them isn't it? You had always loved the idea of peace. You knew it would spark a civil war, that would spiral into a full blown world war. Tell me the truth brother." Sasuke spoke slowly moving his gaze to the sky.

"I...I see you know. If I told you I killed them under orders from the Hokage, what would you do?" The elder asked, resigning himself to see how his brother would react. To see if his brother could be trusted with the truth. He had faith in the abilities of Minato's son, and between him and Sasuke, Itachi knew they could and would protect the village. Well, that was if Sasuke decided to continue protecting and working for the village that took his family. He loved his brother, and he always would, no matter the younger sibling's decisions. But he also loved the village, and he would protect it.

"Orders, from the Hokage?"

"Yes... here, look into my eye, accept my Tsukuyomi, so that we may extend our time." Sasuke did as instructed, and the two found themselves in a genjutsu inside of a genjutsu. Here, Itachi explained everything to his younger brother. Including the dangers of Danzō, and explained why he loved the village so much. By the end, Sasuke knew, and accepted what had happened. Itachi's Tsukuyomi expired, and this sent them back to Sasuke's quickly fading genjutsu.

"Itachi….I can accept what you did, but by no means can I forgive you...you should have found another way. But your goal, after the massacre, to protect the village from the shadows? I will uphold that goal, and I will take the mantle of responsibility from you. I will take it upon myself and Naruto, to go to the Hokage and handle Danzō. You may run, and hide yourself away, to live the rest of your life in the peace you wanted so badly brother." Sasuke said, Itachi smiling in response.

The elder brother looked at his sibling, before pulling their foreheads together. "Sasuke, no matter your choices, no matter your actions...from here on out, I will love you, always." With that the genjutsu faded, and Sasuke stared at his brother.

"Go live in peace Itachi...maybe I'll come visit someday."

"I'm sorry Sasuke...you see I'm very sick. I'd love to have you visit though. Sorry little brother, maybe next time." As he spoke he reached out just like old times, and tapped his finger to his brother's forehead. With this final act, the traitorous ninja, the most notorious missing nin from Konohagakure, and loving elder brother of the last Uchiha, collapsed and died.

Sasuke slid slowly down the wall he leaned against, his body shaking and his mind reeling. He felt such a wild storm of emotions he could barely handle it. "Itachi…" as he whispered the name of his brother, tears began to shed from his eyes.

"Sasuke!" Came the call of his blond haired friend, as he arrived at the scene. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah….I'll live…."

"Something is different with you, what happened?"

"There's a lot to explain, Naruto."

"Alright well let's meet up with the others and get out of here."

"Can you help me up?"

"Yeah I got you buddy." Naruto said looking Sasuke in the eyes. "Sasuke… your eyes…"

"What about them?"

Naruto pulled his headband off and used it to show the last Uchiha his reflection. "They're different…." He said trailing off.

"Mangekyou Sharingan…" Was all that Sauske said.

* * *

"So first of all, Akatsuki members Hoshigaki Kisame, and Uchiha Itachi are dead?" The Hokage asked to the newly arrived team.

"Yes ma'am, all have been taken out. Yamato, Gai, and myself are responsible for the death of Hoshigaki. Naruto and Sasuke handled Itachi." Confirmed Kakashi.

"Where is Sasuke now?" She asked eyes shifting to Naruto.

"He's in the hospital being treated for chakra exhaustion and burns by Sakura. He'll be here shortly...we have.. a lot to discuss with you privately ma'am." Naruto explained.

"Alright fine, Yamato, Kakashi, Gai. You're all dismissed." Ordered the female Hokage, and as the trio exited the door, Sasuke stepped through.

"Lady Hokage." He greeted.

"Jounin Uchiha. Please sit, you as well Naruto." She said motioning for the two to be seated. "Naruto tells me we have a lot to discuss? Did you find out something from Itachi?"

"I found out….._everything _from Itachi." He said cryptically before he and Naruto began to recount the battle. Once they arrived at the appropriate point in the story, Sasuke took over and explained everything Itachi had told him, along with informing her of his own personal choice to continue protecting the village.

"I...I see. I shouldn't be surprised that old warhawk would do something so reckless...no not reckless, that was borderline treason. He went so soundly against the wishes of the Hokage. Sasuke, Naruto, I'm assigning the two of you and Kakashi to put together a sting operation on Danzo. I'd prefer him captured, but lethal force is authorized."

"Understood Ma'am. I have a question if you don't mind." Said Sasuke, his voice all business.

"Go ahead?"

"How difficult would an eye transplant be for you to perform?"

"Excuse me?"

Sasuke immediately explained to her everything behind the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"That's...disturbing at worst, and interesting at best. I could do it but I want to make sure it gets done right. I need to properly examine the eyes and nerve endings. I'm assuming you brought back his whole body?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll need to examine him for a while as well. Sasuke it will be a while, but we will do the transplant. Do you already possess this Mangekyou Sharingan?"

The last Uchiha's reply was to simply activate his Sharingan, and let her watch as it morphed. "Yes." He said quickly after she gave him a pointed look.

"Alright well, go get some rest both of you. You deserve it."

* * *

"What do you have for me?" Asked a figure who stood in a tree overlooking the root headquarters.

"Scouts report root numbers to be around two hundred shinobi sir." Said an ANBU member who had landed beside him.

"Good, alert Kitsune and Inu. Have them rendezvous with me at point eleven." The figure spoke.

"Yes sir."

* * *

The figure now stood on a cliff side overlooking the compound. Two more mask wearing figures landed beside him. "Hawk." One said as they arrived.

"Kitsune, Inu, glad to see you're on time."

"It's not like it's an everyday thing" Inu said lightly complaining.

"Oh? I didn't take you for a liar sensei." Said Kitsune.

"Now now, let's not be rude." Inu laughed lightly.

"You two are surprisingly calm. Let's just get this done." Hawk said with an implied glare in his voice.

"Always have been the eager type, haven't you Hawk." Inu said teasingly.

"Shut up. Let's go." Replied Hawk, and the group leapt down into the compound. Just then, the moon reached its peak, and the clock struck midnight.

* * *

"Judging by the sounds of battle I'm hearing, I'd assume you're here for me?" Asked Danzo to the three ANBU before him.

"By order of the Hokage, you are to be secured. Dead or alive. You're being charged with multiple counts of treason. Along with being responsible for the deaths of the Uchiha clan." Said Inu.

"What proof do you have?" The elder shinobi asked.

Hawk extended his sword out at the man, pointing at him. "Itachi's word."

"By telling you these things, Itachi is a traitor to Konoha. It seems he told you everything before he died didn't he. It seems, you alone really are special."

"Don't you dare speak his name, Danzo." Hawk spoke.

"You never were a calm one Sasuke, I don't know why Itachi felt the need to let you live. Petty emotions only hold shinobi back." The elder spoke.

"Come quietly Danzō, and you may be allowed to live." Spoke Kitsune in an almost pleading tone. He may be a traitor, but this was still a fellow Konoha shinobi who had been close friends with the late Third Hokage, at least at a time.

"Never, you and your Hokage will lead this village to ruin!" With this Danzo began to unravel the bandages around his arm. This greeted the three ANBU with the gruesome sight of the many Sharingan eyes implanted in his arm.

"You bastard!" Shouted Hawk who had nearly lost his control at this sight.

Sensing that he needed to reign his friend back in, Kitsune called out. "Sasuke! Calm down. We have to be smart about this."

"Uchiha Sasuke. I'm going to take both of your eyes and add them to my collection." Danzo dashed forward at the shinobi, intent in striking them down quickly. He drew back his fist, swinging it forward with all his strength. His hand simply impacted the rib cage of Sasuke's Susanoo. "So this is the Susanoo?"

At this, the Uchiha simply batted the man away. As he landed, Sasuke's anger took hold, and his left eye shot wide open. "Amaterasu!" The black flames quickly burned the man away, leaving nothing behind. After which the raven hair man tossed aside his mask aside, while blood began to drip from his eye.

"Sasuke, we were supposed to try to capture him!" Shouted Inu.

"I thought you would know better than to think that could take me alive, Hatake." Danzo said, as he showed himself behind the group. Seeing as the enemy already knew his identity, Kakashi cast his mask aside as well.

"Danzo...long time no see."

"And you.." The elder said, turning to Kitsune. "There's only one person in this village with that color of blond hair." At this Naruto drew his kunai and took a fighting stance. "Those kunai as well. You really are his son, aren't you, Uzumaki Naruto."

"So you knew...I figured the elders knew, you could have at least made my life a little better."

"Your potential as a powerful weapon for the village was wasted when Sarutobi chose to not let me take over your training."

"Well I'm really glad he didn't. Are we done?"

"It seems all that is left is to fight." The elder replied.

"Naruto, Kakashi… I know for a fact I landed a killing blow with Amaterasu...something isn't right, be careful." Said the raven haired man, his emotions now reigned in.

"Right!" They replied in unison.

"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!" The elder shinobi said as he blasted a barrage of air bullets at his targets.

The three shinobi quickly reacted on their own. They split apart all hitting different corners of the room. A tri-prong passed dangerously close to the elder's head, and as soon as it passed Naruto was behind him. The blond quickly slammed a kunai into each of his shoulders. With the man momentarily restrained, Sasuke and Kakashi appeared on his sides. "Chidori!" They yelled in unison, and both ran a hand coated in lightning through the man's chest. The killing blow landed, they stepped away.

"It's useless." Came the man's voice from the other side of the room. Sasuke immediately appeared behind him, his body flicker even faster at this point than it had been when he fought Naruto. He positioned his sword to carve out the man's heart when a sealing formula crawled up his body. Danzo moved to stab him, only to be launched away by Kakashi. The blond man arrived by his friends side and quickly countered the seal with one of his own.

"Danzo, you're an idiot for trying to use Fuinjutsu around a seal master." Naruto said judgingly.

"Now that is impressive, to so quickly undo my seals….it seems you're _her _son as much as you are his."

"Enough talking about them. I dug deep recently and deducted that you were responsible for holding the Uchiha clan back from defending the village against the Nine Tails. A move that would have certainly saved many lives, as well as rebuilding the village's trust in the Uchiha. It may have even helped prevent the deaths of my family."

"Your crimes against the village continue to come to life Danzo. Lady Tsunade will have to deal with it, you're sentenced to death." Kakashi said with a hard tone.

Naruto appeared at the elder's side, cutting into his left arm as the man barely managed to avoid a lethal blow. As his body moved backwards, he was intercepted by Sasuke's sword cutting through him. The man simply disappeared, reappearing beside Naruto. He swung hard with a kunai, but thanks to Naruto's reflexes, he managed to redirect the blade, but was still stabbed through the shoulder. "Fuck!" He shouted, flickering away across the room.

"You Alright Naruto?"

"Yeah, I'll live sensei." The blond said ripping the blade from his wounded shoulder. "What the fuck was that, I know we got him that time. Wait...sensei look, a third eye on his arm has closed." He said noticing the trend. Meanwhile Sasuke had already jumped in and re-engaged the elder. Danzo ducked quickly under a sword swipe, while weaving hand seals.

"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"

Sasuke barely managed to leap away dodging only three of the five air projectiles that had been fired at him. One ripped across his cheek, the other tearing into his shoulder. "Gah!" He let out a grunt in pain. "Amaterasu!" He screamed, more blood trailing from his eye as he managed to just miss setting the man ablaze once again. The man then quickly moved to attack.

He brought a kunai to bare, and moved to push it into the last Uchiha's chest, only to be launched away by the impact of a Rasengan. As he flew away, he caught sight of a special kunai that sped past his face. Before he could even hit the wall, he was hit in the back by another Rasengan. This time launched back toward the raven haired man, he was intercepted by a Chidori through the heart courtesy of Kakashi. Unfortunately he had watched Kakashi take position, and had already activated his genjutsu.

He popped up behind the copy nin, running a kunai into the man's shoulder. The legendary ninja's battle instincts being the only thing that helped him dodge quick enough to avoid fatal injury. Taking the wound in stride, the copy nin swung around as his hand burst into a Chidori. He managed to glance the attack along the man's chest, but it was nowhere near deep enough to cause death, or even serious injury, other than the tingling sensation the electric shock would no doubt leave.

As Danzo moved to swing at the nin once again, a kunai impacted the ground beside him. He was promptly sent flying by a harsh punch thrown by Naruto. "You alright Kaka-Sensei?"

"Of course." He said, and gave his student a reassuring eye smile.

Danzo stood, analyzing his situation. "_Four of my eyes have closed, but I am in a situation that if I do not win, I will not be able to escape." _He took his fighting stance once again, and prepared to fight his death battle. "Come, show me your rumored power." He said addressing the three nin before him.

"Gladly." Sasuke said with a snarl, Susanoo roaring to life around him. Suddenly, his vision blurred, and he was struck with immense pain in his eye. "Gah."

"Sasuke, if you keep going like this you'll lose your vision. You need to hold back, calm yourself." Naruto said, worry evident even in his scolding tone. "How about we show off that new combo?"

"Fine…" The raven said in response. "Kakashi, stay behind us."

"Wind Style: Open Destruction!"

"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"

Danzo was significantly caught off guard. He hadn't expected the two men to be capable of what most certainly seemed to be at the very least an A-rank combo.

"Ninja Art: Massive Firestorm!" The two yelled in unison as the jutsu they had launched came together. Everything in its path was incinerated, the wood of the room burning away in almost an instant. The metal beams that held parts of the base up, heated to such a degree that they twisted and melted. Danzo was completely erased in the blaze. The roof caved in, and the large complex collapsed on itself.

* * *

All four ninja found themselves standing atop a pile of rubble, just as the early morning sun began to cast light over the village. Danzo looked down at his arm, and watched as his fifth eye closed, sighing slightly. The three attacking nin all took stances once again, when a crowd of root ninja landed around them.

"Kakashi, Sasuke. Handle Danzo, I'll handle crowd control." He moved through hand seals, before the other two launched at the elder. He finished his sequence, and used his jutsu. "Uzumaki Fuinjutsu: Six Point Barricade!" A large purple barrier appeared, locking himself and the root ninja inside.

The twelve root nin surrounded the blond jounin, weapons drawn. "Surrender jinchuriki."

"Listen...you're all fellow Konohagakure shinobi, and I don't want to kill you, but if you continue to follow Danzo's orders, I won't hold back." He said, and quickly whipped kunai around the enclosed barrier.

"We are loyal to Lord Danzo, surrender now jinchuriki, or we will attack."

"Damn….I didn't want it to be this way." Naruto sighed.

* * *

"Sasuke!"

"Right!" The Uchiha replied to his sensei, both of them bringing a Chidori to life in their hands. A chain of lightning shot between them, and Sasuke's eyes locked on Kakashi, while the copy nin's did the same. Both used their Sharingan to synchronize their chakra, and use a technique Kakashi would normally use with a shadow clone.

The two ran at the elder, the chain in position to take him apart at the waist. The man simply jumped over the technique, and landed behind Sasuke.

"Kakashi!" He yelled.

"On it!" Kakashi replied and disconnected his side of the Chidori. Sasuke's chakra took hold of the massive chain, and brought it around like a whip, smashing into Danzo and slicing him deeply in the torso. To finish it all, his chain launched the man toward him, and his porcupine technique turned the elder into a pin cushion.

Standing across from them now, Danzo watched his sixth eye close. "_Six down. Even if I beat these two Sharingan wielders, I'll need to keep enough power in reserve to take on the Uzumaki." _The elder thought to himself as the Sharingan battle continued.

* * *

"Gah!" Came the pained scream of a root agent as he took his last breath. A tri-pronged kunai having just been shoved into his heart, and quickly ripped back out.

"That's four down. Please don't keep doing this, it's not necessary to throw your lives away." Naruto pleaded with his technically fellow Konoha shinobi.

"Just fight jinchuriki, we have no interest in your words."

"Fine. I can't keep my comrades waiting. Let's go, don't blink or you might die." The blond said, his voice taking on an icy anger. He didn't even bother using his substitution, simply flickering in between kunai, and shoving them into chests and throats alike. Naruto quickly bathed his small battlefield in blood, and took a moment to catch his breath. He surveyed the scene for a moment idly wondering how his father dealt with the pressure of killing a thousand shinobi in a few seconds. As he turned to help his teammates, he was greeted with another, larger group of root nin that the other ANBU units had failed to take care of.

* * *

The clang of kunai striking kunai filled the air as Kakashi and the elder crossed blades. The older man grabbed the others wrist, and brought his foot around to kick at the copy nin's side. His foot impacted hard, cracking a few ribs and sending the masked man flying. He was caught by his student, and the raven haired man took over. Danzo quickly engaged the Uchiha, and a battle of blades began anew.

Sasuke ducked under a kunai swipe, and brought his sword around his back in an attempt to cut downward into the man's back. A quick dodge put Danzo at the advantage, and he bolted to stab the Uchiha through the chest. The raven side stepped, and jumped, spinning in the air and running his sword's blade across the old man's back. Danzo tripped slightly, and felt the shift in the air temperature. "Fire Style: Incinerator Blast!" Yelled Sasuke, blasting the man's back with fire at such a close range there was no time to dodge. "Kakashi!" The raven yelled, knowing his sensei was already back up.

"Right!"

"Lightning Style: Chidori Senbon!" The two yelled in unison peppering the area with the electric senbon, forcing Danzo to be struck by them the minute he appeared. It was no killing blow, but it did damage and definitely slowed him down.

Sasuke's Susanoo burst to life around him again, and muscles and skin formed over the skeletal form. He gritted his teeth in pain, but forced himself through it as he drew back his bow. He shot an arrow that ripped straight through the bandaged man's chest. Kakashi and Sasuke watched on in annoyance as the man faded once again.

When he appeared, Sasuke went at him with all forms of self-preservation disregarded. He swung wildly with his sword, and fired off fireballs and used Chidori spears against the man. Kakashi quickly picked up on what the raven was trying to accomplish, and quickly joined in. As soon as the elder's attention shifted slightly to the masked jounin, a purple skeletal hand wrapped around his torso. The man's eyes widened in shock, and Sasuke grit his teeth in pain. He squeezed hard, and obliterated the man's body.

As soon as he reappeared, the copy nin was on him, landing blows rapidly as the elder attempted to fight both ninja at once. "_I may be forced to use the Kotoamatsukami. If we come close enough for it to be necessary, I will make use of it. However; I need to save it for use on the Hokage to turn this mess around. I cannot wait any longer than today, else I risk the events transpiring now getting out amongst the shinobi ranks." _

At this moment, Sasuke landed his palm on the elder's back. "Chidori Sharp Spear!" He called, and the elongated Chidori burst forward, cutting right through the man's vitals, and as with before, he faded away.

"_Damnit, only one more eye...if this goes sour I'll use the genjutsu on the Uchiha."_ The man decided, he then coated a kunai in wind chakra and charged the Uchiha. The last survivor smirked, and coated his blade with a Chidori. They charged each other, both shoved a blade through the other's torso. Nearly a minute passed, as the two locked eyes. "Go now, join Itachi." As he finished speaking, Kakashi's own lightning blade ripped through his chest. He smirked, knowing he had taken the Uchiha down, and was unharmed. He then coughed, suddenly realizing that he had been tricked. "You knew about Izanagi? You put me under a genjutsu, clever." Kakashi and Sasuke quickly pulled away, and Danzo also made distance. He had immense injury, but could hold out for just long enough. Quickly, he unraveled the bandages from his head, and revealed Shisui's Sharingan. "_I'll use Kotoamatsukami on the Uchiha, and then sacrifice this eye for Izanagi." _

His hands flashed through seals, as he moved forward slightly knocking rubble away with his foot as he did. His last seal completed, he pushed his chakra to the eye, and was met with immense pain when a tri-pronged kunai was rammed straight through it. "Return to the darkness, and never see the light again." Said the blond yanking the blade out.

"But how!?"

"That rubble you tripped over was my kunai. So much for being an experienced shinobi. You're over with Danzo, your arrogance brought about your death. Accept this, and go to the afterlife." With those final words, Naruto planted the kunai back in the elder's skull, this time through the temple and then again separating the spine from the skull. Danzo was dead, and their mission was complete. He turned to the others, a neutral look on his face, with some worry mixed in. "You guys alright?"

* * *

_**How's that for a shitty ending to a chapter. So Itachi has died. If you have questions about this chapter at all go ask me on Twitter. I'm probably not going to answer any questions from reviews. Although I do read **__**all**_ _**of them. Also, in this fic Susanoo is only the upper torso, head, and arms. It is also extremely taxing on the users chakra reserves. The perfect Susanoo is not a thing, and legs cannot be manifested. At all. By **__**anyone**__**, other than Madara, and he is **__**dead**__**. That's just the way it is in this fiction, sorry. Another thing is that in this fanfiction, Sasuke is pretty much abusing an untrained muscle in trying to use his new Mangekyou techniques. It's just so early after it's development that it causes more harm. Of course this will be occurring consistently during the time he has his standard Mangekyou, it is just affecting him so quickly because instead of taking baby steps into bungee jumping, he leapt off the bridge with no rope. Also, if y'all want me to write out my version of the Nine Tails attack, check out the poll on my profile. I know it's kind of a plot hole, so if you want, I'll explain it, so go vote on the poll. Anyway, this one's long, and I worked hard on it with how little time I have lately. Hopefully you liked it. See ya, Darling in the Fox out!**_


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty Three **

_**Hey guys, back again. Hopefully you enjoy this chapter and continue to enjoy the story. I know updates haven't been super frequent, but I'm trying my best. Anyway I'll quit rambling, here we go.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto does. If I did, I'd be writing on a peaceful camping trip.**_

* * *

"Hey brat." The large white haired man said as he greeted his recently awakened student.

"Good morning Jiraiya-Sensei." The blond said groggily as he pulled out a carton of orange juice.

"Any progress with that jutsu?"

"No sir. Between the Itachi mission and the whole Danzo fiasco, I haven't had a day off in weeks."

"Ah, as is the life of skilled and important shinobi."

"Indeed." The blond replied, putting toast into the toaster before turning to face his sensei. "So what's up? What brought you here?"

"What, I can't just drop by and visit my favorite student?"

"If you were just coming by to see me you wouldn't have gotten here so early. So what's going on?"

"Well kid, in three weeks I'm leaving on a super secret and important stealth mission. I want to take you back to the training complex and train you more for these few weeks."

"Alright Sensei, I'm in."

"Good, meet me at the complex tomorrow, alright?"

"Understood."

* * *

Over the course of the next two weeks, the blond made excessive amounts of progress. He had completely deciphered the first three sealing formula, and now was stuck on the fourth. He was struggling to get past it.

"Kid, you're diving too deep into it. Take a break, and let your mind develop everything you've learned. Not everything you do needs to be finished right away, sometimes in life you have to sit on things for a while."

"Ah alright Sensei." Naruto said sliding his chair back from the desk. He turned to his teacher and smiled. "A spar then?"

"Sure."

* * *

At the end of Jiraiya's last week in Konoha before his mission, he found himself sitting with Naruto. The two sat back to back, sharing a popsicle, both of their large scrolls set to the side. They sat in a field atop the cliff side the complex was built into. They had just finished a spar, and had gone outside for fresh air. The Sannin found himself extremely proud of the guts his charge had.

Naruto had spent the last two days almost none stop in the "gauntlet". Which is what Naruto had taken to calling the massive complex maze of moving training posts. His reflexes seemed to be faster than ever, and Jiraiya had no doubt that when this young man finally cracked the Flying Raijin, he would have no trouble using it in combat.

The blond was battered and bruised, and his clothing slightly ripped up as well. A week's worth of taking on the dummies at faster and faster speeds, a long with multiple daily spars with a Sannin had taken its toll on his body and clothing. Jiraiya smiled fondly thinking about the student who currently leaned against his back. "_I'll protect you no matter what Naruto." _He thought to himself.

Finally the larger man spoke to his charge. "You've been working hard kid. Everyone has taken notice. The absolute will power you've shown is impressive. At this rate, that Hokage title might have your name on it. You're doing great, and you've stuck to your path."

"You mean people are finally acknowledging me?" Asked the younger man tiredly.

"Of course kiddo. Kakashi, Tsunade, Iruka, and even Sasuke, all acknowledge your power. But the power you possess that is more useful than any jutsu, is the will power you hold in your heart."

"You really think I've come that far Sensei? I'm still not at your level." The blond asked as his leaned further back against the massive Sannin.

"Naruto, you'll be at my level in no time, of that I have no doubt. Minato and Kushina would be beyond proud of you kiddo."

"Thank you Jiraiya-Sensei, it means a lot." He replied as his eyes dropped closed.

"I'm glad I made you my student."

"I'm...glad you're my...god..fath...er." The younger man said trailing off as he slowly fell asleep against the back of his mentor.

"_I'm gonna come back to watch you grow kiddo. I promise."_ Jiraiya thought to himself, as he relaxed as well, but stayed sturdy enough to hold up his charge. The sun shone brightly down on the two, and they lay there for hours. Naruto slept soundly against the man who had been instrumental in making him who he was. As night finally over took the clearing, Jiraiya collected the blond, and brought him to his room in the complex. The sage wrote out a quick note, and made his way to see the Hokage before he took his leave. The note he left read, "_see ya later, Kid._"

* * *

"Minato was the closest thing I ever had to a son. When I look at Naruto it's like I'm looking at my very own grandchild, and I can't help but believe in the man he is. If there is anyone who can bring peace to the world of shinobi, it will be Naruto. And if it isn't peace then it will be the closest thing to it, and that's for sure." The large man said, turning away from the other Sannin. "Now, I ought to get going."

"Wait Jiraiya! Do you have to go?"

"Of course, someone has to get intel on the Akatsuki leader. I'm the only one who can. Wish me luck princess." He replied, as he held his fist into the air, before turning it into a reassuring thumbs up. "See ya." As the Toad Sage left his village, the princess he had always chased after let her tears fall.

* * *

Naruto awoke groggily from his sleep, and quickly climbed from his bed. He walked to the Sannin's room, and the kitchen, trying to find his teacher, before remembering he was due to leave today. He then noticed the Sannin's note and frowned slightly. He made his way out onto the only part of the complex that stuck out of the cliff and stared into the sky. He then thought to himself, "_You left before I could say goodbye. Stupid Pervert, be safe Sensei."_

Naruto decided to head home and take a long shower, as well as tend to his house plants. He couldn't ask Rikka to look after them forever. Whistling, he made his way through the streets of Konohagakure toward his home.

"Naruto!" A voice rang out, a familiar figure running over to talk with him.

"Oh, hey Kiba. What's up."

"Nothing much, how have you been? I heard you made jounin."

"Yeah, that was a while ago though. How about you? Any progress?"

"No not really, my mission count is still too low and I don't have enough team lead experience. But you're not the only one getting stronger! You and Sasuke aren't out of my league yet!"

"Ah I see." He replied laughing.

"Yeah."

"How's your team?"

"Shino and Hinata? They're good, me and Hinata are actually together now, I don't think her dad likes me." The Inuzuka said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Hey good for you guys! As shinobi, you never know what might come next, so it's good to find love sooner rather than later." The blond replied with a bright smile.

"Thanks buddy. Well I better get going, I've got a B-rank to go on, see ya around Naruto!"

"Later."

With that, the blond continued his way through the village. He made a quick stop at a produce stand, and bought an apple to eat along the way.

"Naruto?" Asked a familiar voice as the blond passed by the barbecue joint.

"Hey there Shikamaru, Ino and Choji too. How have you guys been?"

"Pretty great actually!" The larger man said happily.

"I wish I didn't have to do so many missions, but not bad." The Nara said.

"Other than having to deal with these two, I've been good. So is it true you made jounin?" The Yamanaka questioned.

"Yeah, Sasuke as well."

"Oh wow, so Sakura is the only chunin from team seven then."

"Yeah, that would be true."

"Man what a drag, there's a lot that comes with being a jounin."

"That's true, but we handle it. So um, how are you guys holding up after...well you know?"

"Not having Asuma around is kinda rough, but we've all mostly come to terms with it. Thanks for taking care of that bastard Hidan."

"Of course, I wanted to thank you as well Shika. If not for your information, I wouldn't have been able to take him down."

"Meh, no problem."

"Alright, well we better get going. See you around, Naruto." Ino said, and the group took off.

Five minutes of walking later, and Naruto found himself at his front door. Grabbing the handle, he found it unlocked and made his way inside. He was greeted with the brilliant view of Rikka's well toned posterior as she bent over watering his plants. "Yo." He said lazily.

Slightly startled, she jumped up and turned to face her company. "Hey Naruto."

"How are they?" He asked.

"Good! I watered them just like you asked. Are you back for good?" She questioned.

"Nah, I'm just here for a warm shower. The water at the training compound is only cold for some reason." He replied and laughed lightly at the unusualness of the water always being cold there.

"Oh! Well I'll let you take your shower then."

"Thanks Rikka, maybe drop by later?"

"Sure thing!" She said rocking on her feet before making her way out the door.

* * *

"ANBU! Fetch me Team Seven immediately!"

"Yes Ma'am."

The Hokage was only forced to wait a few moments for the arrival of the team. "Team Seven. You've got an S-rank mission. You leave in an hour. The Kazekage has been captured by the Akatsuki."

"Gaara! What do you mean he was captured!?"

"I mean what I said Uzumaki. It's your job to bring him back." She said with a very serious tone.

The blond man went rigid, before his resolve steeled in his eyes. "Yes Ma'am."

"Good. Now gather your gear and head out!"

"Yes Ma'am!" Came the chorus of the four shinobi before her.

* * *

Rikka was frightened by the frantic running around the apartment Naruto was doing. She had dropped by as he had asked, only to find him in a hurried panic.

"Naruto, what's wrong?"

"I don't have time Rikka, super important mission."

"Naruto what's wrong."

"They got Gaara okay? They got him, and I wasn't there. I'm wasting time packing extra gear. I need to go now!" Normally blond shinobi has all his gear ready to go at a moment's notice. However; all of his pre packed gear was stored away at the training complex, where he had been spending much of his time. In his normal composure, he would have gone straight there to get it. But his worry and panic over Gaara's situation had thrown him off quite a lot. It was uncharacteristic of him to get this flustered by any situation. Konohagakure's campaign against the Akatsuki had been going so dramatically well, he hadn't even considered the thought of losing someone to them. There hadn't been a single casualty from the actions of the Akatsuki since Asuma.

"Naruto, if you go like this you'll get yourself killed."

"I'll be fine, I need to-.."

He was cut off when she slapped him across the face. A mixture of anger and worry grew on her face as she held his head. She forced him to look straight at her. "You need to calm down, think, and be careful. These guys managed to take on the _Kazekage_. You have to use that awesome brain of yours. I know for a fact that if this wasn't Gaara, you'd be much more yourself in this situation. You're being uncharacteristically panicked, and you need to calm down and think like you normally would. I'm terrified, you are facing people that took on a Kage. But I know you have to go. Because not only is he an ally, but he is your friend. I know you won't let harm come to him."

Naruto stopped his panic. His brain and body calmed themselves at her words. "Thank you...Rikka."

"Naruto...you could die on this mission. I don't want to regret this." As she finished she quickly leaned up and kissed him. "Be safe, and come back to me. I'll tell you about this scarf when you do." She said holding the burnt orange scarf in front of his face. "Now go." She said as she disappeared in a body flicker.

He stared at the spot she had stood, a slight smile creeping onto his face. "I'll be back...I promise." He said quietly to the empty apartment before flickering away to find his team.

* * *

Sasuke leapt away as the flames of a massive explosion licked at his back. He turned, and saw the onslaught of clay flying beetles coming at him. His eye bleed lightly as the ribcage of the Susanoo surrounded his body and stop the explosives from causing any damage. He sighed in relief, and his Susanoo deactivated, only for his eyes to widen as a massive bird made of clay screamed toward him from the sky.

"Kamui!" Came the voice of his sensei as he sucked away the bird to a separate dimension. "Are you okay Sasuke?"

"I'm fine, thanks Kakashi."

"Good let's get this guy."

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto found himself extremely happy Lady Chiyo had come along. With her help he was able to focus on Sasori. There was nothing against Sakura's skills, but she was still only about chunin level in speed. This meant she had no capability of dodging the puppet users attacks. He also knew he could count on Sasuke and Kakashi to retrieve the Kazekage. His tailed beast may have been ripped from him, but Naruto held out hope.

At this moment, the puppet user chose to use his army of one hundred puppets. Sasori was skilled, and Naruto's clones couldn't get close. He knew it would take one quick catastrophic blow to take this guy out. He might be able to do it with his Rasengan, but he knew someone who could crush the man's entire body with a single punch. "Sakura! Chiyo! I'll make an opening be ready!"

"Right!" They replied in unison.

He peppered the whole army with his kunai, and decided it was now or never to use his substitution to the max. Replacing with kunai after kunai, he used the Rasengan to make his way down the middle of the army. Sakura followed closely behind his trail, with the old puppet user guiding her moves. He burst through the opposite side of the puppet wall, having used the last of his substitution. He landed on his feet, and Sakura launched over his head, and came down with a massive heel drop to Sasori's torso. The man's puppet body shattered, and he was no more.

"Alright good work. Let's go support the team." He commanded.

* * *

Having dealt with Deidara, the combined might of Team Seven easily being enough to handle the former Iwa nin, Chiyo now sat before Gaara's lifeless body.

"I was inspired by how you treat this boy, our Kazekage, as one of your closest friends. You, Uzumaki and this boy Gaara. You will be the future. Lend me your chakra, so that I may give my life for his."

"Chiyo...I can't ask you to-."

She cut him off quickly and spoke. "You don't need to ask. This is my choice, and my way of entrusting the future to you and Gaara. I could never give a damn about the village. But being around you, listening to how you feel about jinchuriki ...I've learned a lot. To think an old lady could be taught so much by a youngster… now come, let me borrow your chakra."

"Yes ma'am…" he replied solemnly trailing off. They sat in silence as Chiyo did her work. Naruto watched as the life slowly drained from the woman. As she fell back, Sakura caught her, but she was dead the moment she landed in the girl's arms.

Sand shinobi began to arrive as the Kazekage slowly came back to consciousness in the land of the living. As he sat up, he was greeted with a mop of blond hair. He immediately recognized the long blond bangs that framed his friends face. "Naruto…?" He said lightly.

"It's me Gaara. We came to rescue you, your friends and shinobi have arrived to help as well. Although they are a little late to the party." The blond said with a sad chuckle.

"I...thought I died…"

"You did….that lady gave her life to save you. She put her trust in the peace between our villages in you and I."

"Lady..Chiyo...gave her life for _me_?"

"Yes she did…."

"Naruto...help me stand."

"Yes sir." The blond replied lifting the redhead to his feet. The Kazekage stood shakily, and began to address those around him.

"Everyone ...pray for Lady Chiyo. May she be forever remembered, and rest in eternal peace." With that the entire force of shinobi bowed their heads, closed their eyes, and prayed.

* * *

"Naruto...thank you for coming to help me."

"Obviously I'd come help. You and Sasuke are my best friends. I'd do anything for you guys."

"Originally, you wanted to kill me, but you've grown on me, you ought to come visit the idiot more so he doesn't pester me so much." Commented the Uchiha who stood beside the blond.

"Thank you both. I wish the best for both of you, and I look forward to our villages working closely together." The Kazekage said, shaking the hands of both shinobi. "Thank you both for being my friends. I've become a very different person due to the lessons you both taught to me."

"Anytime Gaara." Naruto said with a smirk. "I'll always help out my friends Y'know!"

* * *

"Team Seven. It seems congratulations are in order for your mission to rescue the Kazekage. Well done Sakura, you managed to save the life of the Kazekage's brother as well. I'm proud of all of you. Good work. Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke...you've all been hitting high ranked missions back to back. Take a month off." The Hokage said addressing the freshly returned team.

"Thank you Ma'am." The three males said, as they made their way out of the office. Sakura stayed behind to assist her mentor with her duties. As Naruto left, something clicked in his head pertaining to the Flying Raijin, and he knew he had to get back to it right away. He sprinted down the hallway to leave, and almost ran headlong into Rikka.

"Hey Rikka, I know we need to have a super important talk and all, but I have to do something now and it's imperative I do it right now." He whipped out a piece of paper, and scribbled directions to the complex on it. "Come by in the morning!" He yelled, as he handed her the paper and ran off.

The girl smiled lightly, before speaking under her breath. "Weirdo."

* * *

Naruto sat at his desk in the complex once again, mind reeling as he tried to wrap his brain around the complex theory of the last seal formula. He had completely reconstructed the third formula, which had pertained entirely to the time side of space time theory. With the other three out of the way, he could completely focus on the fourth kanji. This one represented tear. It was what made the movement through space time possible at all.

With this, he was able to figure out exactly how the four formula worked in tangent. It essentially boiled down to speed through a space time tear. Speed being the first formula, space being the second, time being the third, and tear being the four. The user would use chakra to shape and form the tear in space time, and use it to move through. It was much like if you folded a piece of paper in half and cut a hole through it. When it is unfolded, the distance between the holes is massive, but if you fold it, it's like stepping through a door.

He spent the next seven hours laboring away at his desk. Slowly through the day papers and drawings accumulated on, and around his desk. Quickly the room became a mess of fuinjutsu scribblings and math equations. Having told Rikka of the location of his secret complex, this was the sight she was greeted with when she entered his study.

"Naruto?" She asked, slight worry showing in her blank voice.

His hand shot up, and was held in a motion for her to wait. "Hang on." He spoke seriously. She heard him mumble and curse under his breath, when suddenly he shot out of his chair. The man stood rigid, hands planted on the table. "No way…." He said in disbelief. Suddenly he jumped up, fist in the air. "I fucking did it! I got it!" He sprinted to Rikka, and picked her up spinning her around in his excitement.

"Naru…! Wha-..what! What did you do?" She said, having trouble getting the words out as he spun her around wildly.

"I figured it out! I cracked the code!"

"What code?!"

He stared at her a moment in confusion. Suddenly it clicked and he realized she had no knowledge of his work on the Flying Raijin. "Look Rikka, you gotta keep this a secret, but I've been attempting to learn the Flying Raijin. It's a technique developed by Senju Tobirama, the Second Hokage. It was further improved by Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage, and it is what got him the title of the Yellow Flash of Konohagakure."

"Naruto, that's incredible! Can you perform it?"

"Not yet, I haven't tried. I had to bust my way through tons of fuinjutsu formula and space time theory, but I've finally figured it out! I can try it out tomorrow, but for now, it's time for a long overdue talk between us."

"Alright. And Naruto?"

"Yes?"

"You can put me down now."

"Oh. Oh right!" He said laughing as he set the girl back on her feet. Slowly they chatted and made their way to the kitchen.

"You know it's six in the morning right?"

"Is it? Oh wow, I should probably sleep. But I'm still wide awake right now. There's plenty of time to talk."

"Okay, perfect."

"Let's go sit on the couch." He said as he guided the woman to the sofa, and both took a seat. "So before we talk about anything else, you owe me a story."

"Oh, that's right. Well my father used to...uh… beat me on a daily basis…. He'd leave me in the cold outside our house, in an attempt to hide my bruises. I was so cold one night. I was so sure I was going to die. But I met you, Naruto. I met you, and you changed everything for me. I saw a blond boy, with a smile that split the world. I remember seeing you, in your black sweater, brown pants, and your stupidly bright orange scarf. You were like a symbol of hope to me. Everything about you in that moment shined bright. You walked up and asked if I was cold, and I remember stuttering out a yes. You wrapped me up in that coat of yours and wrapped your scarf around me. You gave me the gloves on your hands as well. You took me around the village. When it began to rain you opened your backpack and held an umbrella up for me as we walked. Just trying to cheer me up. You were so kind. I was so happy. And then the next day all I ever heard about you was bad things from the villagers, our classmates, and their parents. I was so worried that if my father heard I was around you he'd beat me worse, or maybe even go after you. I didn't want that... so I ocastrised you. I avoided you and tried to forget you. But you were still the kind boy who changed my life. Someone who I could never forget. I had a crush on you for a while as well, and eventually Ryuko befriended me. She got me to go out and do stuff. Eventually an ANBU witnessed my father's actions, and the Hokage stepped in. My dad was a chunin, and he ended up getting thrown into a prison. My distant uncle was notified and he came back to the village and looked after me a while, but eventually he left again and was killed on a mission. When I saw you and Ryuko got together, I was just so happy that the both of you were happy."

"Rikka...you're pretty." Eyes wide Naruto thought to himself, "_I just said that aloud!"_

"Are you stupid?" She giggled. "At a moment like this that's all you have to say? Thank you Naruto."

"Uh sorry, I was listening though, it just popped into my head, and Rikka I care for you as well. I think Ryuko would be happy with us being together. So I guess what I'm saying is, if you want maybe we could be y'know ...together?"

"I'd love that." She smiled. "This scarf you gave me sparked so many things in my life. It's like my very own orange thread of fate. But here we are, and not only do I have your scarf, I have you now too."

"I don't know why I can't remember that day, but it was so long ago, and now that I know of it, I know you're the one I want in my life Rikka." He spoke, before extending his hand and lightly taking hold of her scarf. "Our stories seem to have been intertwined since the beginning, so might as well let them merge now." He said, and pulled her close to him via her scarf. Carefully and lovingly, he planted his lips on hers, sending sparks through both of them.

* * *

The Toad Sage sat inside the mouth of one of his toads as it made its way into Amegakure. "_Huh, why do I have the sudden feeling that I need to be proud of a certain blond. Hmmm, oh well. Back to writing it is then" _He thought to himself. The Sage was making the finishing touches to the new book he had begun writing after Naruto had finally beat him in that spar. It seemed like so long ago to the old Sage now, he remembered watching over the boy after he first met him, and he had no doubt now. That child, no that man would be just as, if not more legendary than Minato ever was. And if someone could bring about peace, or anything close to it, it would be Naruto. "_Be safe brat."_

He continued his writing, and after a while the Toad notified him that they would soon be inside Ame. "_What will I name this book then…..hmmm." _

"We're here Lord Jiraiya."

"Alright, thanks for the ride. See ya later."

The toad simply saluted before disappearing. The Sage began walking into the village before stopping in his tracks. He quickly whipped out his book, and began scribbling. "_Ah I know. The Tale of The Prodigal Son. Fitting for a book loosely based on the life of Naruto." _The Sannin smiled widely as he put his notebook away, and made his way further into the village.

* * *

_**Alright that's it for this one. I know I kind of screwed the pooch on the whole Kazekage rescue, but honestly I really just needed Sasori and Deidara out of the way. Anyway will be working on the new chapter over my Fourth of July camping trip, so I might be up soon after the 8th. Alrighty that's all, Darling in the Fox out!**_


	24. Chapter 24

_**Chapter Twenty Four**_

_**Heyo guys it's me my dudes. Back with another chapter just for you. Hopefully you enjoy. Things are gonna heat up soon. Everyone is saying my stuff feels rushed. And honestly, it is. There's a reason though. There's a place I want to get in this story. Once we get there, trust me you're gonna fuckin love it. Bare with it for another chapter, and I promise you'll like the result. Well at least I hope so. The upcoming chapters have me excited as fuck. And I've honestly had it written since the beginning. **__**Everything **__**has been leading up to it, and it isn't even the finale! :)**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto Kishimoto does. If I did, I'd be super happy.**_

* * *

"_The Tale of Jiraiya The Gallant. Well...now it will end a bit better I hope. The final chapter… I'll call it The Frog at the Bottom of the Well, Drifts off into the Great Ocean. Just barely glorious, but glorious indeed. Oh! That's right, what should I name the sequel? I wonder...let's see…. The Tale Of Uzumaki Naruto…. Or maybe, Namikaze Naruto ...Yeah, that has a nice ring to it. Sorry I couldn't be there for your upcoming birthday kiddo…"_

* * *

Naruto threw a kunai, and it impacted the target across from him. Channeling his chakra, he activated the Flying Raijin. The blond appeared before the target, and suddenly he collapsed to one knee. Pain shot through his body, and vomit filled his throat. "_Gah, dammit that hurt. What am I doing wrong. It takes so much to rip open the hole in space time. Using my chakra to blast through ends up taking so much and causing me a great deal of pain…" _He thought analyzing the results in his mind. He didn't even want to stand back up it hurt so much.

Suddenly he felt a large hand land on his shoulder. His eyes shot wide, and he stood quickly. "Sensei, I didn't even...sense...you?" He said trailing off as he realized no one was there. "_What the hell...I could have sworn that was…" _He thought. He placed his finger to the ground and stretched his chakra over the village. "_No, he's not back..hm." _ The blond when back to his notes, and soon after, resumed attempting his technique.

A few tries later, and no progress made, Naruto realized it was time for a date with Rikka. He quickly flickered away from the complex to her house to pick her up for their meal.

* * *

"Tsunade…."

"So it's really true then? He's really gone?"

"Yes I'm sorry my dear. It is the truth." The elder toad said sadly.

"I..I see. ANBU! Fetch me Kakashi!"

"Yes ma'am!" A masked figure said, it then dropped from the ceiling and disappeared from the room. Only about a minute later, Sakura stepped into the office, confusion slowly overtaking her face when she saw the toads.

"Lady Tsunade what's going on here-.." She was cut off quickly when Kakashi appeared before the Hokage.

"Ma'am?" The copy nin asked.

"Kakashi….Jiraiya has been killed in battle. I need you to go get Naruto and bring him here."

"Lord Jiraiya has…? Um, yes ma'am right away." The masked nin said, quickly flickering away from the office to fetch the blond.

"Lady Tsunade...is it true? Is Lord Jiraiya really..?"

"Yes it is Sakura. Now, please go, this is… something that Naruto needs to hear in private."

"Um ...yes ma'am will do. I'll come back later."

* * *

"So there I am, kunai in hand, and I swear I've got that pervert right where I want him! No escape possible! And he turns into a freakin toad! It was crazy!" The blond told his new girlfriend as he recounted a tale from his early training with the Sage.

The bluenette giggled loudly, and smiled at him. "That sounds like quite the tale, Naruto."

The blond spun around in his chair to look at the doorway of the restaurant. He had sensed his sensei coming, and waited patiently. "Hey Kaka-Sensei."

"Hey. Naruto, the Fifth has called for you."

"The Hokage? Is it important? I'm kind of on a date."

"Naruto...it's a top priority." Kakashi said after thinking a moment.

"I'm sorry Rikka, I have to go. Would you like to come along?" He said as he turned to the woman he was with.

"Can I even?" The scarf wearing female asked.

"If you really want, I suppose it can't hurt. Now let's go."

* * *

The three stood outside the Hokage tower, and Naruto was stunned to see Gamabunta sitting outside, with Gamakichi atop his head. "Hey guys! What are you doing here? Did something happen?"

The toads simply stared back at him blankly, trying not to show any emotion. However; the blond could sense chakra, and he could tell by the feel of everyone here but he and Rikka, that there was something definitely wrong. "What's going on around here."

"It's nothing let's go." Kakashi replied quickly, as he continued into the tower.

"Strange.." Naruto said questioningly. Rikka turned and gave him a soft smile, before they both continued inside as well.

* * *

"Is this the student of Jiraiya boy?"

"Huh? And elder toad? Yes that's me, Uzumaki Naruto. I'm Jiraiya-Sensei's apprentice. What's up?" The blond said staring at the new toad with a questioning look.

"There's no easy way to say it, nor is it useful to dance around the issue. Jiraiya boy has been killed in battle."

"Huh?" The blond said in disbelief. "What did you just say?"

"Not to long ago, there was a rumor that the Akatsuki leader was hidin' in Amegakure somewhere. Jiraiya went in to confirm this rumor. The Akatsuki leader was called Pain. Now I don't know if Jiraiya boy told you, but he trained a group of children from Ame during the Second World War. It seems that this Pain, is actually one of those children."

"To defeat someone as powerful as Lord Jiraiya, that's quite a feat. How did this Pain pull it off." Kakashi asked.

"It was because Pain possesses the Rinnegan eye."

"The Rinnegan!? No! That means…" with this everyone's eyes were on Naruto. The blond's anger boiled inside him, even Rikka looked at him in concern. "First he took my mother and father, now he's taken my master as well. To top it all off he was trained by Jiraiya-Sensei…"

Tsunade's eyes widened at Naruto mentioning that he knew who his parents were. "Naruto, you..?"

"Know? Yeah I know, I met my dad."

"Tsunade dear, we're getting off topic. The Rinnegan is extremely powerful, but to top it off, there were six of them with the Rinnegan eye."

"Six? How is that even possible?" Asked the copy nin in disbelief.

"I don't know, perhaps there's some trick behind it. I believe Jiraiya boy figured it out in that final battle. Even after having his throat crushed, and he knew the end was near, Jiraiya boy left a message before collapsing." The toad said whipping off his cloak. "This is his message."

"It's a code." Commented Shizune.

"I believe he did this to prevent pain from catching on, but that is all I know."

"I'm not sure what he was trying to tell us." Spoke the Hokage.

"Naruto boy, he also gave me something that I need to give to you. It's the final draft of his new book." The elder toad said, and held out a book to the blond. The man stepped forward, and took the parchment in his hand. He also pulled out his own piece of paper and politely asked the toad to turn around. He quickly copied down the code left by his master, before he placed the book and the paper in his pocket. He then stepped away, back to Rikka's side.

He looked to his Hokage, and then spoke. "Did you let him go, Lady Hokage?"

The elder blond closed her eyes and sighed before answering. "Yes, that's right." Everyone in the room felt Naruto's chakra flex at the words. His anger became almost malleable.

"I….I see." The man said, his anger coming back under his hold. "I have to go." He spoke.

"Now hold on Naru-..." Kakashi was cut off when the man disappeared via body flicker. "Dammit. That kid-"

"Enough Kakashi, let him be."

"Understood Ma'am."

"Naruto…." Rikka said in worry under her breath.

* * *

"Damnit!" Came the load scream of the blond as he slammed into the ground. His most recent attempt in using the Flying Raijin had thrown him head over heels as he came out. He had tried to come out running, but the pain sent him off of his feet as soon as he had teleported. "What am I doing wrong…..Sensei…." The blond's thoughts were overtaken by memories of the large white haired Sage. A man that had been a mentor, a friend, and a father figure. "Why'd you have to go alone…? Jiraiya-Sensei…."

The blond stood, and made his way back to his home. Sadness filled him, and he couldn't even focus on his training. He had tried to use it as something to distract him, but it really hadn't worked. He sighed loudly as he walked, and just couldn't shake the feeling of hurt that had overtaken him.

* * *

"Naru..?"

"Hey...Rikka."

"How are you holding up?"

"Not well… he's gone Rikka...he was a father figure to me. He was a man of immeasurable strength, and honestly I thought he was invincible. But now…. he's dead, he's not coming back, and if Jiraiya-Sensei couldn't beat this guy, who can?" The self doubt he held within him from long ago quickly clawed its way to the surface

"Naruto….more than anything, Master Jiraiya believed in you. He believed in your will power, and in your strength."

"Yeah….I don't know, I just miss him."

"I know Naru, but he'd want you to keep going, and celebrate his life, more than dwell on his death."

"I wanted him to watch over me. I wanted him to watch me become strong. To see me change the world of shinobi, and to see me become Hokage. I wanted him to be at my wedding one day, and I wanted him to be a grandfather to my children…"

"Oh Naruto….I'm so sorry. I know it hurts. But you have to remember darling, he's watching over you everyday now. His eyes are on you at all times, now more than ever."

"Thanks Rikka...would you mind maybe...letting me sort this out alone for a while?"

"Of course Naruto. Come get me if you need me."

"Will do."

A few minutes after the woman had left, Naruto stood from his bed and sat down at his desk. In front of him, he placed Jiraiya's recently finished book. "_The Tale of The Prodigal Son. Hmm. I'm proud you wrote another book that can affect people's lives. I'll have to get this published." _He thought to himself as he examined the book. As he lifted it, a note suddenly slipped out. Confusion dawned on his face, and he quickly examined it.

"_Naruto, I plan to take you to your parents home for your birthday. But I write this letter in case I don't make it back from Amegakure. Obviously I'm so super awesome though, so we don't have to worry about that! But anyway, I've included the address of their former home, just for you. Please go have a look around. Stay strong kiddo, see ya soon."_

The blond cried at the last words to him from his sensei. It hurt to know that the man had genuinely believed he would be able to make it out of Ame alive.

"I think I'll bring Rikka along to the house then." He said to himself. He then wiped his tears, and stood. He made his way to the door, and was off to find his girlfriend.

* * *

"Naruto! Whatcha up too, wanna get some ramen on me?" Iruka said, bumping into his student in the street.

"Actually...sure." The man replied quietly.

"What's the matter Naruto?" Asked this other father figure in the blond's life.

"Let's talk about it at the stand…."

"Alright."

The two made their way to the ramen shop, and they chatted about trivial things until their food arrived.

"So, what's wrong Naruto?"

"Well….Master Jiraiya was killed in battle."

"What? Naruto...are you serious?"

"Yes…." He said sadly.

The two ate quietly as Iruka thought on what to say. They soon finished their meals, and Naruto began to get antsy. He moved to excuse himself, but Iruka caught his arm. "Wait." He said. "Come with me."

"Alright." The blond replied in slight confusion.

Eventually the two found themselves in the park. Iruka motioned for the jounin to sit on the bench before speaking. "Wait here, I'll be right back." He said with a smile.

The chunin returned quickly, a two piece popsicle in hand. He broke it in half, and handed one to Naruto. "Here, you look like you could use one." He said to the boy, no man, that he had watched grow. "Lord Jiraiya loved you like his own child, Naruto. I'm sure his last thoughts were of you, and I'm sure he's watching over you right now. He certainly wouldn't be happy seeing you sad like this. So don't stay depressed forever. After all, Lord Jiraiya himself, one of the three Legendary Sannin, acknowledged you as his promising student. I'm sure you're the man that Jiraiya hoped to see you become. And you are the embodiment of his teachings. You and only you, can show the world what he taught you, and pass his teachings to the next generation."

"Thank you…..Iruka-Sensei.." The blond replied with the softest of smiles. The pair sat and talked a while, eating their popsicles in the midday heat. The two soon said their goodbyes, and the man was once again off to find Rikka.

* * *

"So this is…"

"Yes, this is my parents old home. Once we step through this door, you're going to learn an S-Rank secret. Are you prepared for that?"

"Of course I am."

"Alright then, let's go."

With that the pair stepped into the building. Naruto had undone the barrier and locking seals Minato had once placed on the wooden door. They looked around in wonder, before Rikka made her way over to a shelf. "Naruto….this is...your father is…." She said, picking up a photograph.

"Yeah. My dad was the Fourth Hokage."

"The resemblance is uncanny! How did no one notice."

"I think it was more that they didn't want to notice. You see, the reason they orrcastried me, was because I am the Jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox."

"The...Nine Tails?"

"Yeah, father sealed it in me to save the village, and to protect the balance of power between the villages. He made a sacrifice not only for the village but for the world. Doing so he placed a massive burden on my shoulders, but I look at it as more of a responsibility." He said, rubbing dust off of another photo of his mother and father.

"So is that why you're learning the Flying Raijin?"

"Yes, father left me that jutsu, a final gift to his son."

"I see." The woman said. "Naruto, your mother was beautiful!"

He smiled in response. "I know, wasn't she? Quite the amazing woman."

"I would've liked to meet her." She said with a soft smile.

"I'm sure they would have loved to meet you as well, Rikka." The warm grin plastered across his face told the woman that her partner had come to terms with the death of his master. "I'm going to store away many of these photos. I want to keep them with me awhile, until I decide if I intend to move into this home."

"Smart idea." The bluenette commented.

After some time spent exploring, Rikka took her leave, and Naruto moved into what they had discovered to be his father's study. He looked around for a while, and discovered pages and pages of his father's notes. Impressed by the amount of theories and fuinjutsu ideas his father had come up with, Naruto stored it all away in his scroll, and returned home for his rest.

* * *

"Nagato, everyone is dead, we can't keep this up. I'm sorry, but it's over."

"No Konan. I will retrieve the Nine Tails myself, as I should have all those years ago. Unfortunately that bastard Hokage managed to rip away my control of the Gedo statue. It took me quite a while to regain the ability to summon it."

"Ok, say you do capture the Nine Tails, then what?"

"We will rest, recover, and I will hunt down jinchuriki on my own. While I do this you will recruit new members."

"You're going to capture all those jinchuriki alone? You and I both know that will be extremely difficult. On top of that the only tailed beasts we possess are the One and Three tails."

"As they say, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." The man said, a slight anger in his tone.

* * *

Weeks passed, and Naruto continued his attempts to figure out the Flying Raijin. He struggled to actually perform the technique. He just couldn't understand what exactly he was doing wrong. Due to this he now found himself talking with Rikka.

"Yeah I don't know. It's just so hard, I'm really struggling to figure it out."

"I'm sorry Naruto. I wish I could help, but you know I'm no good with this stuff you're talking about." She replied. She was currently patching up one of Naruto's training outfits. It was torn badly on the leg. They continued to converse as Naruto watched her try to rip away a piece of fabric from the pants. He watched as she pulled at it harshly to no avail. (The woman wasn't all that great at this sewing, and she was very much just winging it.) He watched with curiosity as she made a small cut in the fabric, before using that cut as a starting point to tear the fabric away.

"Rikka!" He yelled, causing the woman to jump.

"What? Dang it Naruto you scared me."

"You're a freaking genius! Thank you! Thank you so much you brilliant woman!" He yelled excitedly. He quickly pecked her on the cheek, and smiled at her. "I have to go! I think you just got me to crack the Flying Raijin!" He said full of excitement. "Here, take this incase I figure it out!" He then quickly handed her a marked tri-pronged kunai, before he disappeared in a body flicker.

The woman shook her head at her boyfriend's antics and made a simple statement under her breath. "Weirdo."

* * *

Naruto quickly stopped at his parents old house. He had read in his father's notes about some kind of secret passage in the basement that lead to something, but the notes were incomplete. They had been dated to the night before his birth, so he assumed his father hadn't had the chance to complete them. He wanted to go check it out quickly before he threw himself headlong into the Flying Raijin training with his new idea that had been sparked by Rikka.

Coming before a strange and well locked door in the basement, the man stood in confusion. The door had a few locks on it, as well as plenty of sealing formula to keep it closed. After some time of trial and error, Naruto unlocked the door, and made his way inside. "What is this…?" The blond questioned in wonder as he stood in a seemingly unending plain of existence. A massive open and blank white and grey area sprawled around him. "Dad, you crazy genius! I can't believe it! You created your own pocket dimension." The blond stood there, taking in the marvelous amount of work it must have taken his father to develop this. "Wait, how the hell am I going to get out of here? Shit, this might be a problem!"

He sat down, and quickly unfurled his scroll, extracting the notes of his father. He quickly began sifting through them, intent on finding an answer. Studying quickly, he soon figured out three things. The first was that his father had created this place as a testing ground for extremely dangerous jutsu. The second was that this pocket dimension only slowed time by a few hours. Twenty four hours in the pocket dimension would be twelve hours in the real world. The third had deeply concerned the blond. His father had not written down how to escape this place. It certainly had the man stumped and he needed to figure it out. He made multiple shadow clones, who quickly set to work on finding a way out. In the meantime, Naruto planned to perfect the Flying Raijin. Before he got to work however; the boy spun around and made three more shadow clones. These clones quickly got to work on trying to decipher Jiraiya's message.

* * *

"Has anyone seen Uzumaki Naruto?" Asked the Hokage to her assembled group of nin.

"No ma'am, I believe myself and Iruka were the last ones to see him. That was last week. He had been headed to his training complex, but no one has found any trace of him. I highly doubt he deserted the village, I believe he may have caused himself trouble in his training. We checked his house, and the Inuzuka's tracked his sent to the basement door. However; it was locked with multiple sealing formulas and no one could even begin to comprehend them. And with master Jiraiya gone….." Rikka trailed off.

"That brat always gets into trouble…. we'll give him another week, but if he hasn't returned from wherever he's gone we will begin attempts to break into it." The Hokage said.

* * *

About two hours after the meeting, a dreadful feeling came over some of the people who lived in the village. They had no idea what was about to happen.

"Gah!" Came the pained shout as the chunin died at the hands of the Akatsuki leader.

"Kaito!" Yelled the other Konoha chunin. As soon as the man finished speaking he found himself lifted from the ground and pulled rapidly to the strange orange haired man. He screamed in dying pain as a black rod ripped through his chest and pierced his heart.

Tossing the body of the fallen nin to the ground, the shinobi turned his sights on the village. "It is time, Uzumaki Naruto."

* * *

Civilians watched in horror as rockets and summons destroyed the village around them. Massive explosions rocked the ground beneath their feet, throwing some down to the ground.

Rikka stopped, and quickly helped up an elderly woman who had fallen. "Please, evacuate quickly." She said to the elder. Who smiled and thanked her, before quickly running off.

"What's happening?" Rikka asked aloud as she ran through the streets. She made her way across rooftops, trying to find the source of the destruction. She skidded to a stop as she heard the voice of the chunin, Umino Iruka.

She watched as an orange haired man landed before her former academy teacher. "Speak now. Is Uzumaki Naruto in this village."

Iruka looked up at him defiantly, attempting to tend to the wounded ninja below him. "I don't have anything to say to the likes of you!"

"Is that so, then I have no need for you." Said the man stoically as he swung his arm down, a metal rod intended for Iruka's chest. His arm was stopped suddenly however; when a gloved hand caught it. The Rinnegan wielder then came face to face, and eye to eye, with none other than Hatake Kakashi.

"Take that man with you, and pull back. I'll handle things here." Spoke the copy nin.

"Y-Yes sir!" Iruka replied obediently. He quickly gathered his wounded comrade and made his escape.

Kakashi quickly dodged a kick from the enemy, and summoned an earth wall behind him. "_Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"_ The wall sprouted behind the Akatsuki leader, and had him trapped, at least Kakashi thought so. He quickly brought a chidori to life, and moved to slam it into the enemy. Moments before it could connect, he was blasted away by the almighty push.

"_Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!"_ A column of fire came from Rikka jumped down from the rooftop and landed beside Kakashi. The man escaped the damage from the chunin's jutsu, but seemed unprepared when Kakashi released his own.

"_Lightning Style: Lightning Beast Running Jutsu!"_ The large hound made of lightning barreled towards the man, and just when it looked like it would connect, it was blasted away by the orange haired man's technique. "_So he can repel jutsu as well…"_ The copy nin glanced at the chunin beside him. "Rikka, you sure you want to be here?"

"I'll fight, no doubt."

"Any idea where Naruto is?" He also gave her a look that said, "don't reveal anything".

"No I haven't seen him." She said, shaking her head.

"Shit, we need to protect him." Replied the masked man.

"Let's handle this first then." Spoke the stoic bluenette.

"Right." As this was said, another path of pain crashed down behind them. It's arm extended and opened up, blasting out a large number of rockets at the Konoha nin. A massive explosion enveloped the two nin, and it looked as if they had been killed. A cloud of dust appeared behind the new arrival, and Kakashi burst from it, chidori in hand. He was extremely surprised when the man dodged with no trouble, even from his blind spot.

The man regrouped with his comrade, and they were immediately greeted with another blast of fire. "Fire Style: Flame Bombs!" Called the bluenette.

The fire seemed to roast the two, only for them to come out mostly unscathed. However; the man who fired the rockets had changed. He now possessed three faces, six arms, and a massive blade extending from his back.

The original attacker raised his hand, and pulled the two Konoha nin toward them, Kakashi bound for the missformed man's blade, and Rikka bound for a black rod extending from the originals sleeve.

Kakashi caught himself and Rikka with a chain he had anchored. Unfortunately the pulled increased, and ripped the masked nin away. The bluenette managed to grab a better hold of the chain, and wait out the jutsu. Due to this she was forced to watch as Kakashi was promptly impaled by the massive blade. She also bore witness to Kakashi turning into lightning and shocking the enemy.

The orange haired man suddenly glanced up, and managed to dodge away as the fists of the Akimichi impacted his partner, and the place he had stood moments ago.

* * *

The last Uchiha found himself only a few miles outside the village when a feeling of dread suddenly overtook him. "_What the hell?" _He thought to himself. He had been returning from a mission outside of Fire country, and had almost made it home. He quickly made his way to a high point, where he assumed he would get a semi clear view of the village in the distance. The sight he was greeted with filled him with worry for his home. The Sharingan wielder leapt from his perch, and quickly made his way to the village. Seeing the massive columns of smoke rising from the village sent shivers down his spine, and anger to his heart.

* * *

_**And that's a wrap. Okay so, something I want to get out of the way. I'm not gonna make up some bullshit to explain it, but in this AU, Nagato was not crippled in the fight with Hanzō. Yahiko still died in that fight however. Nagato is now crippled because he was fucked up by Minato in their battle during the Nine Tails attack. This means that Nagato wasn't using the new bodies during the attack. I've seen a review that says I'm a shit writer, but y'all seem to enjoy this. :) also saw a review that said it's dumb they announce jutsu and things like using exploding tags, where they say "explode!" I agree it is dumb, but they do it in the anime. However; from now on, many more of the techniques in this story will be called out in their minds, instead of aloud. Anyway that's all for today, expect a new chapter fairly soon. Darling in the Fox out!**_


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty Five**

_**Heyo, welcome back kiddos. It's time things get spicy. I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto does. If I did, this chapter would have happened.**_

_**Edit: 11/4/19 Added missing dialogue that plays out in later story.**_

* * *

Naruto stared at the kunai over a hundred yards in front of him. He had just perfectly executed the Flying Raijin for the two hundredth time. It was actually the first time using it perfectly himself, but his clones had previously been flashing all over the pocket dimension.

He closed his eyes, and focused on the feeling of the single kunai before him. His eyes suddenly shot wide open however; when he sensed a kunai _inside _his parents' home. "God damnit, I'm an idiot. How could I not have thought of that. Of course you would use Flying Raijin to leave this place dad." The blond smiled to himself, and quickly collected his kunai in the area. He then closed his eyes, and flashed to the blade in his father's home.

The blond flashed into existence back in Konohagakure, only to land on a pile of rubble. "What the hell?" He asked aloud. He looked around, and found himself in the ruins of his parents' previously standing home. As he pushed himself up, he uncovered a large white cloak. The jounin pulled it from the ruined closet that it sat inside of. He had held it up in front of himself, when his balance was rocked by multiple explosions and the loud sounds of battle raging through the village. His face hardened as he realized his home was under attack. He stretched out his chakra, and felt the weak signatures of Kakashi and Rikka, along with everyone in the village. Knowing they were in trouble, the blond quickly pulled the cloak on, and disappeared in a flash of yellow.

* * *

Rikka and Kakashi sat buried in the rubble, pain coursing through them. Before them stood the orange haired man. "Your inability to move doesn't seem faked." He spoke.

"_Shit I didn't make it, is Rikka alive!?"_ Kakashi thought to himself. He looked around and saw the bluenette pinned against a wall, a pipe sticking through her side, but she was breathing.

"I know you're not a shadow clone, Hatake Kakashi. It's over, but I will not approach you, just to be safe." Two nails ripped from a board below his feet, and flew up into his grasp. "Humph…. know pain."

Kakashi took a deep breath realizing this was the end, only to see a yellow flash appear in front of him. At the same time one appeared in front of Rikka as well. Both nails were knocked away, and before both ninja stood a blond haired man, a cloak upon his back, with orange flames licking the bottom, and the kanji reading: Yellow Flash. "Sensei!?" Kakashi called, shocked at the pure resemblance between Naruto and Minato. He had, for just a second, mistaken one for the other.

"Too slow." Said the blond. Three kunai flew at the orange haired man, but he immediately recognized just _what_ kind of kunai they were, and repelled them with his jutsu. Naruto had expected this and appeared behind the man in a body flicker, and two kunai were thrown into the air before his foot impacted the man's back.

The body of Pain stumbled slightly before he felt a hand grab him on the bicep. He quickly grabbed the offending appendage, and slung the blond across the rubble field. As he moved to engage the thrown blond, he was forced to stop and repel a spear of lightning.

"Chidori Sharp Spear!" Came the voice of Uchiha Sasuke. "Naruto! Take them, I'll hold him off while you handle the rest of the problems. Here! Take Lady Katsuyu!" He yelled throwing the small slug at the blond.

"Thanks. Don't die Uchiha." Naruto said, quickly flashing to Rikka, who he picked up gently in his arms. Another clone popped off and grabbed Choji, flashing the boy to the Hokage.

"Hn. As if." The Uchiha replied as he watched Naruto's shadow clone grab Kakashi, and the pair of blond's flashed away to the Konoha hospital.

* * *

"How...did you get to me so quickly?" Kakashi asked his student.

"You still carry the kunai my father gave you." The masked man looked at the boy stunned, before realization dawned on his face.

"Ah, that's right. I guess I do." He said rubbing the back of his head. "Where did you get the coat?" He asked.

"Oh, dad seemed to have a prototype coat in his closet at the house, I found it when I got out. Long story, I'll tell ya later." The blond jounin replied.

"Oh okay, and Rikka? Did you give her a kunai as well?"

"I gave her one before I returned to my training ground. My shadow clone will explain the rest Sensei, I have to go." The boy said to his teacher, before walking over to the bed he had laid his lover on. "Rikka….I love you.

She stirred slightly before looking at the blond. She smiled softly, but with a tired look adorning her face. "Naruto….I love you too…..Good luck." He leaned down and kissed her cheek. He could see the pain she hid however; and his fist clenched in anger at his side.

"Thanks. I'll be back in a flash."

* * *

"Tsunade." The boy said landing next to the Hokage. Seeing that Choji had just gotten done explaining the abilities of the main Pain body, he continued with his plan. "Ma'am please, tend to the people at the hospital. I have clones collecting them and bringing them there. Please Lady Hokage, let me do the fighting, and you do the healing. More will live that way."

"Naruto…..fine. Take me there." She said after a moment's hesitation.

"Yes Ma'am." The blond said grabbing her shoulder and flashing her to the hospital.

"I've gotta go Grandma Tsunade." Naruto said with a soft smile.

"Be careful, and make us proud." She said, with a soft smile of her own. No matter how smart the young man was, and how collected he could be, some of that age old personality Iruka had told her about still managed to show through at times.

* * *

As the ANBU black ops battled the multi headed dog, Inochi, Shizune, and a few others, were surprised by the arrival of a massive rhino. Next thing they knew the rhino had torn down the building, and the dog had arrived along with the ANBU.

Before anyone could move though, a voice echoed through the streets. "Summoning: Multiple Food Cart Destroyer technique!" Across the village, all of the summons were crushed under the massive weight of Naruto's toads. Shadow clones stood atop the heads of some, but the real Naruto stood atop Gamabunta, who's weight was holding down the massive dog. Gamahiro stood beside them, perched atop the rhino. "Bunta! Hiro! Hold them down just a bit longer. I need to gather some chakra to do both at the same time!"

"Will do! But hurry up brat!" Yelled the boss toad.

Shizune called out in wonder, "Naruto! Is that you!?"

"Don't worry Shizune, I'll wrap this up in no time." The blond called back. After which all the toads in the village came crashing to the ground, the enemy's summons gone from beneath them, along with Naruto and his clones.

* * *

Meanwhile Sasuke was still battling it out with the main body of pain. "_Damnit, now that Naruto has that jutsu down, he's definitely stronger than me. I'll have to train more. He might be the only one who can get around this guy's stupid jutsu." _The young Uchiha stared down the orange haired man. "Chidori senbon!" He called as thousands of lightning needles shot from his hand at the man.

The Preta Path quickly appeared, absorbing the ninjutsu sebon. Sasuke grew annoyed, he didn't want to use it yet, considering it risked his sight. "_Fine I don't have a choice." _He closed his eyes, and his left eye snapped open. "Amaterasu!" He called, as blood began to trickle from the eye socket. "Burn to ash."

"Almighty Push!" With that the flames of Amaterasu were forced away, and he then moved his hands in a different gesture. "Universal Pull!" Sasuke was pulled towards the man, but smirked as Naruto flashed into existence behind Pain.

"Sorry but you're needed elsewhere buddy." Naruto said, grabbing a hold of the man's arm where he had left his Flying Raijin marker.

* * *

He had teleported them outside the village, to a crater left by the tailed beast bomb his father had teleported away from the village on the night of his birth. The man immediately reached up and ripped the sleeve of his cloak off, knowing the Flying Raijin marker had been placed there. He noticed that the young adult had also teleported his summons to this crater as well.

"You know….this crater we now stand in….it's only here because of you. You caused the death of my mother and father.. I got to meet my dad. He's more skilled with sealing than I am, so he worked it into the seal that I would be able to meet him one day. Except…. when you attacked the village on my birthday...you were supposed to have red hair." The blond stared down the Deva path, the slightest hint of anger in his eyes. "Where's the real you, Nagato?"

The puppet corpse narrowed its eyes at the jinchuriki. "How did you know?"

"Well dad said a man with a Rinnegan, and red hair attacked the village, and well only Jiraiya-Sensei's one in a million student fit the description. Not to mention, the message he sent back contained valuable intel. I know the real you is not among those here.

"I see, so you know. But you do not know of my pain. You have not felt my pain, so you cannot understand me."

"Listen buddy, I've felt pain. I watched my first love die before me. I grew up alone, because _you _killed my parents. And I felt even more pain when _you _killed Jiraiya-Sensei. You may have killed a couple hundred or so nin in the village, but that stops now. I'm here and you won't touch my village again." Naruto quickly weaved through hand signs as he saw the man's summons begin to move.

"You're all talk boy."

"Summoning: Multi Food Cart Destroyer Technique!" He called out as multiple shadow clones burst from the trees, dropping massive toads atop the summons. Among those toads were Gamabunta, Gamaken, and Gamahiro.

Two shadow clones burst to life behind Naruto, they pulled the scroll from his back, and flickered to the sides of the crater. They unraveled the scroll, and weaved through hand signs. In a puff of smoke, forty tri-pronged kunai sat before them. The two clones then took the opportunity to litter the crater with them, before they themselves rolled the scroll back up, and tossed it at the original. "I hope your eyes can keep up." He reached into his kunai holster, and withdrew another marked kunai. He moved himself into a fighting stance, and as he did five more orange haired paths of Pain landed before him.

"You see I hope you weren't planning on destroying my village just because I wasn't here. That would be pretty rude. And on top of that it looked to me like you intended to kill Rikka, and that just doesn't sit right with me." The nineteen year old said, appearing before the man in a flash, and kicking him high into the air, sending a barrage of kunai along with him. He slashed the Deva Path six times as they made their ascent, before flashing behind him at the highest point and bringing his kunai down into the man's back. As Pain landed, Naruto did as well. "_Flying Flash: Heaven Stage." _ He smirked at the enemy as his feet touched the ground.

The path stood, before extending his hands out before him. "Almighty Pus-!" He was cut off as the blond slammed into him, throwing him back across the ground.

"I won't let you!" He yelled, moving to attack once more. He was then intercepted by the Human Path, who threw him away toward the Asura Path, who's massive blade that had once killed Kakashi's shadow clone, moved to end his life. He was forced to flash away from the group, as all six paths converged with their chakra rods in a strike aimed directly where he had been.

"I see you've already able to at least be on par with your father's use of that blasted jutsu." The Deva Path commented.

"You had a Fox to distract him last time. Now you don't have that. This time you're going to lose, Pain."

"As if." The man said, extending his arms. "Almighty Push!" He yelled, and every Raijin kunai was blown away to the edges of the crater.

"_From the intelligence I've been given, he should had about five seconds in between each use of that jutsu. Their eyes are all linked, but you can't dodge if you can't even keep up." _Thought the blond. Who threw a handful of kunai at the Naraka Path. "_Gotta take him out first so he can't bring back his buddies." _He appeared before the corpse puppet, slamming his fist into it, while simultaneously marking it with his Raijin seal. He tossed it away and appeared behind it, a larger than normal Rasengan charged. The jutsu smashed into the body's back, destroying it almost entirely.

"Universal Pull!" Yelled the main body, and the blond was sent hurtling towards the remaining paths. Just as he thought he may have the blond though, the younger man disappeared in a flash, landing on the edge of the clearing.

"I've got something important to protect! So I can't lose here!" Yelled the blond, launching two kunai at the Animal Path. The kunai landed just in front of her, and Naruto appeared, slashing her across the face with a kunai, before kicking her into the air. A kunai chased her, and impacted her chest, before Naruto flashed into existence behind her. The blond quickly sent her back to the ground with a Rasengan. He appeared once more above her body as she bounced off the ground, and slammed into her with another Rasengan. "_Flying Raijin: Combo Level!"_ He called in his head as he destroyed yet another of the Paths of Pain. The summons now gone, Naruto sent the toads home as well.

Having sensed the presence of a new player, Naruto began to weave through hand seals. "Wind Style: Open Destruction!" A massive blast of wind left his mouth, as it barreled toward the main body.

"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!" Came the shout of the newcomer. As the jutsu joined together a simultaneous shout came from both parties.

"Ninja Art: Massive Firestorm!"

Sasuke landed next to his friend as they watched the jutsu barrel towards the enemy. Unfortunately the Preta Path jumped before the main body, and instantly absorbed the jutsu.

"Fuck I forgot about him."

"Of course you did you dolt. You never change."

"Shut up Sasuke. Now this is going to feel weird for you, but I have a plan. How would you like to teleport today?" Asked the last Namikaze.

"If I was going to trust anyone to teleport me, it might as well be you. Not to mention you've done it before during our fight with Itachi." Quipped the Uchiha.

"Yeah, but that was a little different." The new speed demon quickly grabbed his friend on the shoulder, and as he did so, his clones once again threw a volley of kunai around the crater.

"Almighty Push!" Yelled the main body and all the kunai were repelled, only to burst into smoke. Another volley of actual kunai were launched this time, and the crater was covered.

Suddenly the Uchiha had appeared behind the Asura Path, and stabbed his Chokuto into it. "Chidori Blade!" He called, and his Chidori took possession of the entire sword, slicing the entire Asura Path in half. Naruto flashed beside him, and teleported his black haired comrade to the Preta Path, who Sasuke immediately engaged with his sword.

Naruto appeared before the Human Path, bringing a Rasengan to bare at the corpse only for himself and Sasuke both to be sent flying. "Almighty Push!"

The two Konoha shinobi landed beside each other. "Fuck, we almost had them."

"Chill Sasuke. We'll get them."

"Right."

"You two should just give up now. And your deaths, shall lead to peace." The Deva Path spoke.

Surprisingly it was Sasuke who was riled up by this. "What!? What the fuck can you say about peace. You just came and tried to destroy our entire village. You almost killed my teammates! And the whole point of you being here now is to kill my best friend! Nothing about what you are doing here, is peaceful. My brother gave up everything to protect our home! I won't let you step on his sacrifice. We are outside the village now, so I'm not going to hold back, Naruto." The Uchiha stared at his friend.

"No, you can't use the Susanoo. You can't risk your eyesight. Save it for if I get knocked out of this fight. You promised not to use it until you had Itachi's eyes implanted. We can use your other jutsu though. Let's go." Said the blond. Sasuke was teleported to the side of the crater, and immediately he nodded to Naruto.

"Combo six." Said the Uchiha.

"Got it."

"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"

"Wind Style: Open Destruction!"

As the two massive elemental jutsu combined as they climbed into the sky, and the two nin shouted in unison.

"Ninja Art: Massive Firestorm!"

A massive deadly looking storm cloud began to form over head. And the main body of Pain was almost confused as to what was going on. "Sasuke…." Naruto said quickly. "Don't even try it until I've taken care of that other one."

"I know." The Uchiha said, and Naruto reached out, placing a tri-pronged kunai in the one time avengers' hand. The blond disappeared to the opposite side of the crater, slinging a handful of Raijin kunai at the three paths.

"This is getting old." Said the main body. "Almighty Push!" He yelled sending the kunai away, only to see a second group of kunai come falling down from the sky. They surrounded the three paths, and a flash burst into existence beside the Preta Path, grabbing it on the shoulder before disappearing. A small explosion was heard in the direction of one of the training grounds, before the blond appeared beside the Deva path. "_He hid kunai in the firestorm they created earlier!" _Nagato thought to himself from his far away hiding place. The blond kicked the body away and yelled to his comrade.

"Sasuke! Now!" The Human Path had a perplexed look upon its face, before it turned in shock at the Deva appearing next to it having been teleported by Naruto.

"This jutsu is called Kirin. Now, with the thunderclap, begone!" As the Uchiha moved his hand down, lightning from the heavens followed. It completely ruined the Human Path, and left the Deva path with only tatters of a cloak left, and exhaustion evident in his expression.

"You Konoha nin just don't know when to quit. Fine then I'll use _that _jutsu. Planetary Devastation!" A black sphere formed in his hands, that he then threw into the sky. The ground and everything in the general vicinity began to rip apart and fly toward the sphere.

The Uchiha was ripped from his perch, and a few trees were torn away as well. "Sasuke!" He flashed to his best friend, quickly teleporting the man back to the village. "I'll be back, this is my fight now."

Seconds later found Naruto staring down the final body. "I'll just continue to pump chakra into the jutsu until you are sucked up into it Nine Tai-..." The man cut off suddenly. What the blond didn't know was that back at his control tower, Nagato had began a fit of coughs, having pushed himself much farther than he had anticipated.

Naruto took immediate advantage of the situation, he quickly threw a kunai at the man. The kunai stabbed into his chest and Naruto appeared above him, Rasengan charged. He brought the jutsu down upon the man crushing him to the ground. "Flying Raijin: Second Step!"

The man's body lay broken and battered, and yet he began to stand. Naruto wasn't about to let him recover though. He flung two kunai at the man, and when both impacted he teleported behind him. He landed three quick kicks to the man's chest, before launching into a spin kick that sent him backwards. To finish him off Naruto jumped into the air, and connected a heavy heel drop to the man's head. "This ends here!"

The man once again stood, and Naruto decided it was time he stopped getting up. He threw two kunai parallel to each other, and charged a Rasengan in each hand. "_Time Space: Rasengan Barrage!"_ He thought, as he flashed between the kunai, appearing before his target and demolishing his body with the combined force of his two oversized Rasengans.

Naruto knew he had done it, when the body failed to stand anymore. He spawned two clones, who began pulling the rods out of the original blond crouched to the ground, and stretched his chakra over a large area, searching for anyone unfamiliar. "_So that's where you are."_ He thought, sensing the chakra of the man named Nagato. Not a bad hiding place, out in the forests of Konohagakure. But unfortunately for Nagato, Minato had long ago littered the forests with kunai and markers.

Naruto flashed to one of these markers and he was now only about a mile away from the location of the enemy. He was beginning to get tired. "_Shit...dad must have been a chakra beast, to just teleport all over like this. The Flying Raijin is not for those with small chakra reserves. That's why I'm perfect for it."_ He quickly body flickered to the fake tree Konan had set up.

He cut through the wall with his kunai, and stepped through cautiously. "So this is where you were ...Nagato." The blond sighed, "as much as I don't want to do this, Jiraiya-Sensei trusted in me to try to find peace, whenever possible. So that said, I'll give you this one chance to surrender. Give up, stop this senseless killing. I don't want to have to kill my sibling students. You both trained under Jiraiya. I know about your friend, Yahiko. And seeing as how he isn't here, I'd assume he died. I'd also put money on the fact that you probably only became the way you are now, because of his death. So tell me, would he be proud of the actions you have taken since his death?" The blond asked.

At those words, Nagato and Konan visibly froze. The thoughts plagued the redhead's mind, the bluenette stunned by the words as well. "You talked about finding true peace. Nothing about how you go around just killing people is peaceful. Didn't anything Jiraiya-Sensei said stick in that stupid head of yours!"

Nagato yelled back at the blond, "Jiraiya was a fool! His words are nothing but a dream of an idealistic old man!"

"You're right. Jiraiya-Sensei was a fool. The day will never come when everyone can understand each other. But, when I become Hokage, I will do everything in my power to make the world become more peaceful! If there's a chance of the other villages working with me to come together and have a peaceful world then I'll make it happen. But if Konohagakure is attacked. I will stop at nothing to protect it, and end any war as quickly as possible." The blond spoke, his voice that of pure resolve.

The red haired man glared at the nineteen year old. "You're a fool. You could not find the answer, so there is nothing more you can do. So do the just thing and simply sacrifice yourself to me, and to the peace that I shall soon construct." A chakra rod shot out of Nagato's control throne, aimed at Naruto's chest.

"I see. So be it." The blond said. Two kunai landed beside Konan, and three flew at Nagato himself, courtesy of two shadow clones Naruto had hidden higher up in the tree before he entered. He flashed in front of Konan, destroying the bluenette with a Rasengan in the back, inflicting wounds from which one could not recover. He then flashed to Nagato just after the three kunai impacted the man's chest. He appeared just above him, and slammed a kunai into the redhead's throat.

Watching the life drain from his eyes, Naruto sighed. "I really didn't want this at all ...I suppose all I can do is move forward. You threatened my home, I hate you for it, but I forgive you. But you just wouldn't stop." He sighed once more and left the tree as it began to crumple into sheets of paper.

He traveled awhile, before finding a suitable place, and set up a shrine to his Sensei. "_Jiraiya-Sensei…...I hope at the very least you will be proud of me for protecting Konoha. I know this isn't exactly what you wanted ...but even you may have been too naive, goodbye Sensei. Rest well." _With that the boy began heading back to the village.

* * *

"Lady Hokage!" A nurse yelled as the Hokage finally fell from exhaustion. The nurse and a few nin laid her on a bed, and she looked at them through tired eyes.

"Have Sakura and Shizune take over ... bring me Kakashi, he should be up by now."

"Yes Ma'am."

Minutes passed and Kakashi walked into the room. "You wanted to see me, Lady Tsunade?"

"Kakashi….. go find my brat."

The masked jounin eye smiled at her before responding with, "Yes Ma'am. Please rest now."

"Kakashi, I'll be out for probably about two to four weeks." She said, her body beginning to succumb to exhaustion. Having spent all her chakra on preventing as many casualties as possible, she had done her utmost to protect the village. "You are temporarily appointed as Hokage in my sted."

"Yes Ma'am. I'll hold down the fort." He said, and after acknowledging his response, the Hokage fell asleep.

"_I'm coming, Naruto."_ Thought the jounin as he left to find his student.

* * *

"_Damn if I ain't tired. Flying Raijin really takes a lot out of you doesn't it dad?"_ The blond thought to himself, looking to the sky as he stumbled through the woods. "_Jiraiya-Sensei…..Mom...Dad….. would you be proud of me? Choosing to take the lives of those who threatened the village. I'm sure you would, Mom and Dad. But what would you think Master? You entrusted your dream of peace to me… Old Man Hokage… Dad… no matter how I feel, I will always take the well-being and protection of everyone in Konoha on my own shoulders.."_ The jounin's steps faltered, and he fell forward.

"Naruto...you did well. You made your mother and father proud. And all of your sensei as well, including Master Jiraiya." Came the voice of the copy nin as he caught the blond man on his back.

"Kakashi….how's Rikka?"

"She's fine kiddo, rest now."

"Alright."

With this Kakashi made the trip back to the village. "_He's gotten much heavier…. they really do grow up fast."_

* * *

"Kakashi!" Came the loud shout of the last Uchiha as he landed beside his sensei. They were only about a half mile outside of Konohagakure, and the Uchiha had gotten impatient in waiting for the return of his comrade. "Is he alright?"

"Yeah, just tired, and exhausted."

"Hn. Good."

"It can't hurt to show a little more emotion Sasuke."

"I've already lost enough of my filter due to my exposure to the idiot. It's important I compose myself as much as possible these days."

"Hmmm. Sure."

"Fuck….you….Sasuke…." Mumbled the blond as he began to stir. The conversation between the other two men having brought him back from his slumber.

"You alright idiot?"

"Yeah I'll live." He replied, having Kakashi slowly set him on his own two feet. Shortly after, the three broke the tree line, coming face to face with the village, along with hundreds of grateful villagers.

Kakashi and Sasuke recognized exactly what this moment would mean for the blond jinchuuriki, and quickly faded back behind him.

Shouts and cheers rang out at the sight of the man who so closely resembled the Fourth Hokage. Naruto slowly made his way forward, and the crowd parted letting children in to pester him. As he patted heads of children, and spoke kind words to the young ones, the crowd parted before him once again. Konohamaru and his group popped out of the crowd, dragging their fellow children from the blond, and leaving him standing alone.

Standing before the man was a blue haired woman, someone he fully intended to give all of his love to. "Naruto...you came back to me…"

"I always will Rikka, it's the promise of a lifetime. No force, in heaven or earth, can keep me apart from you." The blond replied walking toward her.

She smiled brightly, before turning her face away and blushing brightly. To hide her face, she leapt forward into his arms. But when she finally looked up, their eyes met, and their lips locked together for everyone in the village to see.

"I love you."

"And I love you."

* * *

**Fin. **

_**Just kidding! That's all for this chapter. Fun fact for you. It was because of this chapter that this whole story was even written in the first place. It sparked all of this. I hope you loved it. That's all for now, stay tuned for the next chapter!**_

_**In my story, Flying Raijin gives off a flash of yellow like it does in the games.**_

_**Anyway, enough for today, see ya next time. Darling in the Fox out!**_


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty Six**

_**Heyo! Welcome back! It's been awhile, sorry about that. Anyway, let's jump right in.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, I probably would have bought an even cooler computer.**_

* * *

A few weeks had passed since the massive attack on the village. An attack that Naruto had almost single handedly stopped. He and Sasuke were now widely regarded by the village as heroes.

Konohagakure was now under reconstruction, the village having taken massive amounts of damage during the battle. Had it not been for the last Namikaze's intervention, it would have likely been leveled. The village had lost over two thousand shinobi. The losses composed of five hundred and eighty jounin, one hundred and fifty ANBU black ops members, and thirteen hundred and fourteen chunin. The village had luckily lost very few genin, thanks to the quick actions of many brave shinobi, they had managed to evacuate most of the genin from the battleground.

The newest development in the shinobi world however; was not sitting right with the ninja of Konohagakure. Multiple foreign spies had witnessed the battle between the Akatsuki and Konohagakure, and they had seen the huge blow that had been struck against Konoha's military might. They had also bore witness to the rise of the second Yellow Flash.

Word had spread quickly across the shinobi world. The news that another Konohagakure shinobi had learned the famed jutsu of the Fourth Hokage was troubling to Kumo and Iwa. But the weakening blow dealt to Konoha by Pain was something the other nations could afford not to take advantage of. The borders of Konohagakure's minor allies had been tested time and again by the other nations since the Pain assault. Tensions between the three villages had risen to the point that Sunagakure had publicly come forward and announced they were set in stone allies of Konohagakure, and would support them in any sort of conflict.

Kumo and Iwa had quickly taken this as a threat however; and had let their shinobi even farther off of the leash they had kept them on. With the leash loosened, border lines blurred, and conflict quickly burned out of control. It seemed the shinobi world now sat on the possibility of another world war.

* * *

"We need a new Hokage." Said one of the elders to the Daimyo.

"No, Hatake was appointed by Tsunade to lead in her stead. There's no need for this." Shikaku countered.

"We need someone strong enough to show the world that our village is far from weak. We may go to war now! We can not afford this!" Shouted the elder. "At the very least we should swear in Kakashi as the new Hokage."

"And when Tsunade wakes? What then?" Countered the Nara.

Before the elder could respond, the door to the meeting room was thrown open, shocking the Daimyo. "Sorry it took me so long Dad." Spoke Nara Shikamaru.

"It's fine, I trust you brought him?"

"Yeah." When the younger Nara replied, a tall man stepped into the room. He was immediately recognized by everyone there, as they had all seen his skill in battle.

"Commander Nara sir. Lord Daimyo sir." The man greeted with a bow.

"Thank you for coming." The eldest Nara replied before turning to the Feudal Lord. "Lord Daimyo, I trust you know who this is?"

"Ohhh. Yes, yes I do! Quite the marvelous young man!" The leader of Fire Country replied in a sing song voice. "You've done incredible things! You even look some much like the other one, it's a wonder your not a clone."

"He looks like that for a reason my Lord, he is the son of the Fourth Hokage, and the student of not only Hatake Kakashi, but also a student of Jiraiya of the Sannin." The Nara spoke.

"Ohhh, is that so? Yes yes he would do nicely."

"I believe that if you insist upon having a new Hokage, he should be it."

"You broke and S-Rank secret just now Nara! You should be executed!" Shouted the female elder.

"Ma'am, I knew of my father at the age of fifteen, long before now. Your Lordship, will you lend me your ear for a moment?" Naruto asked.

"Oh yes my boy, you may have them both. I am listening." The royalty responded.

"All my life I have dreamt of the position of Hokage. It is my ultimate goal, and I intend to take the position."

"Perfect! Then it's settled-"

Naruto quickly cut the Feudal Lord off. "However; now is not the time. I'm nowhere near experienced enough, and Tsunade will soon enough be capable again. In due time, I shall one day take the hat, but for now, I am one of Konohagakure's greatest battlefield assets. To remove that advantage is ridiculous. Our best show of force we can give right now, is to announce my real heritage to the village and the world. And if the village must go to war again, I will end it for us."

The elder's and the Feudal Lord stared at the blond in astonishment. After a minute of silence, the male elder spoke. "Are you so arrogant as to think you can win a war on your own?"

"Of course not. But I know I will be the deciding factor, as my father was before me. I won't lose. I've got something important to protect, and my will of fire burns hot. I will protect those I love, the village, and my country. Kakashi will do fine as a temporary placeholder for Lady Tsunade. I belong on the battlefield for now. I will take the high rank missions that previously would have been taken on by those killed by Pain. Between Commander Nara, his son, and myself, we'll hold down the military side of Konohagakure. You, the elder's and your Lordship, must attend to the political and diplomatic side of things along side Kakashi. I ask you Lord Daimyo, I know you were a friend to my father, so please leave this to me, and put your faith in Tsunade's recovery."

"Hmmm." The old leader thought aloud.

"Lord Daimyo, you can't seriously be consider-.."

"Enough elders. The man has spoken, and we will appease him. Let us put our faith in him, as we did once with his father."

"Yes my Lord.." The two elders replied.

"Thank you, Lord Ichigawa."

"You're welcome my boy, now please return to your duties, and do contact me sometime. I'd love to know more about _his _son."

"Of course." Naruto replied while he and Shikamaru bowed.

"Well, let us mark this meeting as complete. Tsunade will keep her place as Hokage, and Kakashi will hold the position temporarily in her stead."

* * *

"God I'm tired." Naruto said, stepping into his new home. His parents' home had been destroyed in the attack, but the builders who had come from neighboring villages had found the original floor plans for it, and reconstructed it to the best of their ability. Specifically, it was Inari and Tazuna who had rebuilt his home. He couldn't have thanked them enough.

He was happy he had sealed away the important pictures and notes he had found in the home originally. It had saved him from losing many of the important items the home had held. He was disappointed to see the sealing formula and the door itself to his father's pocket dimension had also been destroyed. He may never be able to reverse engineer the formula now. He figured however; that this was an acceptable loss.

Rikka now lived with him, and he had turned twenty in the last week. He hadn't gone on many missions since the battle, but demand was building, and with tensions with Kumo and Iwa rising, he knew he'd be back in action soon. He had begun cooking a meal, he planned for Rikka to be able to eat when she arrived home, as she had been working long hours helping out at the hospital. Unfortunately, his cooking was cut short when an ANBU arrived. It was fairly early in the morning, and the meeting hadn't taken all that long.

"Naruto, Kakashi has requested your presence. It's important."

"Alright, let me change and I'll be there." With this the ANBU disappeared, leaving Naruto alone in his home. "_Damn, I wonder what's going on."_ He thought to himself. The blond jotted down a quick note telling Rikka what he was doing, and flashed to the tower.

* * *

"Ready Naruto?" Asked the acting Hokage.

"No time like the present." Replied the blond man.

"That's the spirit!" The masked man replied with an eye smile. "Now let's go." With that the two walked up the steps, and atop the tower. Below them, was the gathered mass of Konohagakure and their shinobi, along with many merchants and travelers. "People of Konohagakure, it is time for an announcement long overdue. Twenty years ago, Konohagakure was attacked by the Nine Tailed Fox. Our very own Fourth Hokage gave his life to save the village. Now, twenty years later, Konohagakure has yet again been attacked by an unimaginable foe. This time, we were saved by a different blond haired man. This is Uzumaki Naruto." He said as Naruto stepped forward. "The man responsible for defeating Pain and the Akatsuki. I'm sure you all know him. Now, today I am releasing a S-Rank secret hidden from all of Konohagakure. This, is none other than Namikaze Minato's own son. I present to you; Namikaze Naruto."

Naruto smiled lightly down at the massive crowd. He was happy, because he knew that the villagers and shinobi had accepted him awhile ago, and on their own. He knew that his heritage wouldn't be the deciding reason behind the village accepting him, it would be because of his own actions.

The large crowd stood in shocked silence for a few seconds, before some people began to laugh, whistle, and cheer. It spread through the crowd like fire, and soon, Naruto smiled brightly at his large family. He couldn't help but hear the words of the Third Hokage in his mind. Long ago when he was young he had said something that would stick with the blond throughout his life.

**Flashback **

_The elderly Hokage sat with a small blond boy, both silently eating ramen late at night. Outside the ramen shop the rain poured, and light thunder could be heard in the distance. "Hey Old Man…. why do you take care of me like this, why do you watch over the village like you do?" _

"_Why? Hmmm…. because to me, you are family Naruto… Teuchi is my family… Ayame, and every single person in the village is my family. As Hokage, I will watch over and protect them." Naruto stared back at the old Kage in awe. _

**End Flashback **

As he smiled, he felt a set of arms wrap around him. His grin grew, having sensed his blue haired lover long ago. "Hey there Rikka."

Kakashi then broke through the cheering with his loudest voice. "Everyone thank you for coming, that will be all today!"

* * *

Two weeks had passed, and Naruto could now be found in his home. Himself and Rikka lay on the couch, as Naruto had just an hour before met with the Hokage. "The Daimyo requested you?" She asked.

"Yeah, some big group of mercenaries made up of missing nin is terrorizing one of the larger villages on the edge of Fire country. Thing is, the Daimyo's nephew and his wife live there. But making matters worse is that they've kidnapped the wife, and are trying to ransom her off."

"They know that the Daimyo would bring down Konoha's top shinobi for this though? There's no way they can think that they can hold off people like you, Kakashi, or Gai right?"

"That's what Kakashi, the Daimyo, and myself think. It must be some sort of trap or lure. But the question is, for what or who." With a sigh, he continued, "this might be a pretty long mission…"

"Why do you have to go alone?"

"We can't afford to move a force of shinobi to the border. It could make Iwa think we're preparing for war."

"Naruto… this sounds dangerous." She said propping herself up off his chest.

"Everything we do is dangerous darling." He replied grinning back down at her. "I defeated Pain, so I'm confident in my abilities, but I know I can't afford to get over confident. But you are the one that keeps me grounded. I know that no matter what, I have to come back to you, and that's a promise. I don't go back on my word."

"Naruto…"

"If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live." He continued, moving his face closer to hers. "I have something to return to, so I can't lose. I love you Rikka, and I'll be damned if anyone will stop me from coming back to you every time." His nose was now lightly touching hers, and he could feel her breath on his lips.

"Are you stupid?" She asked with a smile. "I love you too." And with that she pressed her lips against his. The two quickly found themselves in a passionate embrace, and Naruto was quickly glad that he no longer lived in an apartment, as they could be rather loud.

* * *

A week later, the jounin found himself in Amatsu village. It was a rather large settlement in the Land of Fire. It was one of the few to come anywhere close to Konohagakure in size. The seemingly only downside to the location was its proximity to the border. It was the first settlement that one would come across after crossing through Kusagakure. It was along the actual road that had contained the Kanabi bridge in Kusa. A bridge his father had participated in destroying in the Third World War. "So you are Namikaze Naruto?"

"That's me."

"Thank you for coming, Uncle has had many great things to say about your father, and he holds you in high regard already."

"So….how long ago was your wife taken? And do you have any idea how large this group is?"

"Two weeks ago, they took my dear wife. I don't know what I'll do without her….I contacted Uncle because when they sent me the ransom, it was extremely high, I myself couldn't afford it. Uncle then replied telling me he would sent you. My Samurai guard that was killed when they took her… his last words was that a team of four shinobi were responsible, he barely got a good look."

"I see, how do you know it's a group?"

"A few fishermen had reported seeing a camp a couple of miles out by the river."

"_Hmm. Something feels off." _Thought the blond. "Alright, I'm going to go try to investigate… I'll be back by night."

"Right. Good luck Mister Namikaze."

* * *

"_Thirty…. five jounin...fifteen chunin...ten genin ...most are missing nin from Iwa and Kumo… just a few from Konoha and Suna." _Naruto sat perched atop a tall tree overlooking the tiny clearing that the camp was set up in.

"_Hmmm, I don't recognize any of them… wait… that guy is Hashimaru ... one of the guys that attacked me alongside Han when I was on my trip with sensei… strange. Maybe he was in tons of trouble for trying to capture me and almost causing a war? Still… that's doesn't sound right either. Oh well, I need to get back."_ With that the blond quickly flashed away, appearing in the room he had been given to stay in.

The last Namikaze would spend the next week scouting the enemy encampment, and gathering intel on each shinobi.

* * *

"Alright. I have a plan Naota." Naruto said. He sat across the table from the Daimyo's nephew.

"You do?"

"I did some scouting. The Daimyo gave you the money for the ransom even though I was coming correct?"

"Yes sir, he did."

"Arrange for a trade off. Money for the woman. Tell them they can pick the spot."

"What? We're going to pay them?"

"No, I'll mark the case with my jutsu formula. I'll make sure we don't lose the money nor your wife. Trust in me."

"Y-Yes Mister Namikaze."

"Thank you."

* * *

A cool breeze blew over the stream in the middle of the clearing. On one side, stood over thirty shinobi, all of them were missing nin. Opposite of them stood Naota, and Naruto. The Daimyo's nephew held a large case in his hands, filled with the money the enemy so desired. It had taken a whole three days for them to set up a meeting place to complete the exchange.

"Alright. Hand over the lady, and I'll give you the case." Naruto said with a commanding tone.

"Heh, listen here, we've got the leverage right now tree hugger."

"Fine. I'll give you the case first, but I'm warning you, don't test me."

"Yeah yeah, give it here."

A clone burst to life beside the blond, and he passed the case to it. The clone took careful steps toward the enemy, the case outstretched in front of him. He then stood before the man holding the woman, and took hold of her with one hand, while passing the case off in the other. A light sound was made as the man beside them drew a kunai, and all hell broke loose.

The Iwa nin swung the kunai at the clone, who ripped the woman away from the man holding onto her. He flashed away with her in hand, and appeared where his original had just stood. As some of the nin stared in awe at his speed, the original Naruto appeared with both feet on the case, and a firm grip on the handle. The nin were stunned as the man who had held the case fell dead, and Naruto appeared where he had been moments before. He quickly passed off the case, and formed three more shadow clones to escort the couple and the money back to their village.

As the group made its retreat, Naruto turned his focus to the missing nin. "Tell you what, if you all surrender right now, no one else has to die."

In truth, Naruto had expected either a full surrender, or an extremely violent response. He did get a violent response, but not in any form that he had expected. In a cruel and brutal flash of blades, all of the missing nin from Iwa turned on their allies. As the nin fell dead, Naruto's eyes widened as he felt over a platoon of chakra signatures enter his sensory range.

The man took his fighting stance, and reached into his kunai pouch. His hand stopped as it gripped a kunai, his focus being ripped away to the two massive chakra signatures he felt enter the area. "Shit." He mumbled under his breath. "_This isn't good."_

The missing nin from Iwa all stood staring him down with grins on their faces. The blond now deduced that the missing nin status was a cover. Soon, the platoon of back up nin sent from Iwa arrived, and Naruto was struggling to come up with a strategy. The odds were overwhelming. A platoon he could handle, but back that up with two jinchuriki… he wasn't so sure. To top it off, he couldn't run. They would level the village if he did. "How did you get through Kusa?" He asked with narrowed eyes.

"It's simple really." Said Roshi as he appeared on a tree branch.

"We didn't." Said Han as he sped into place behind Naruto. The massive tank of a man launched a brutal kick at the Konoha jounin. The blond dodged the blow, and slammed his palm into the jinchuriki's leg armor. The massive man spun backwards and quickly landed on his feet. His eyes narrowed as he faced down the blond. "We went around."

"That means you either went through Amegakure... or through Takigakure…" The blond once again reached for his kunai pouch only to be quickly blitzed by Roshi. Lava hit where he had stood, and he was forced to dodge when the man brought a lava covered fist mere inches from his face. The Jinchuriki of the Four Tails brought his leg around for a brutal impact, only to hit nothing but air.

Naruto appeared beside Han and made to ram a newly palmed kunai into his neck. Just before he made contact, Hans body erupted with steam, protecting him by burning anything that it touched.

Naruto leapt back, and palmed a second kunai in his off hand. "_Fuck, he never showed that before…..the steam is working almost like Gaara's sand…."_ The last Namikaze flashed behind the massive jinchuriki, to the mark he had placed on his leg, and landed a brutal spin kick to the man's neck. It cost him however; by burning his foot and ankle badly. He landed on his left foot, favoring his now wounded extremity. He was forced to move when Roshi launched multiple globs of lava at his position.

Leaping back, he landed on his right foot, sending shocks of pain through his body. He threw both kunai he held behind him, knowing he needed an escape option. However; he was forced to use it immediately when Han bull rushed him from the side. The blond sped through hand seals, before flashing further back to his other kunai. As he landed he slammed his hand into the ground and completed his technique. "Uzumaki Fuinjutsu: Turtle Shell Dome!" A fairly large dome of chakra rose and surrounded him, giving him a defensive option that would allow him to gather himself.

The enemy jinchuriki stopped short of the dome, knowing full well that any Uzumaki fuinjutsu could prove deadly to the opponent. They had been trying to keep Naruto from even drawing a kunai, but that was no longer an option. The blond took the time the jutsu had bought him as an opportunity to litter the area within the dome with kunai. He looked up as he felt the dome shake, and was met with the sight of Roshi bombarding the dome with lava. He knew if he didn't act quickly the enemy could easily burn his way through the dome. He sensed his other kunai, and realized that it had been covered and melted away by lava. "_Damn, their paying attention." _

"Oi, are you trying to start a war?!" He yelled at the enemy.

"You're a fool boy, the war has already begun!"

"What?!"

"This whole situation was created to keep you away from the front line."

Naruto growled, if what this man was saying was the truth, then Konohagakure was now in all out war. "_Shit…" _The blond could see his barrier being stressed by the heat of the lava that now fully encased it. He knew that in the enemy's eyes he was trapped. But they must have either forgot or not noticed that he could place a marker without a kunai.

He drew two of his blades and focused in on the mark he'd left on Han's leg, before flashing behind him. Showing his ability to be completely ambidextrous, he slammed a kunai into the back of the hulking jinchuriki's thigh, while also throwing a kunai with pinpoint accuracy between the eyes of one of the Iwa shinobi on the sidelines.

He immediately flashed to the thrown weapon, and palmed a kunai in one hand, while drawing four in the other. He struck out with his foot first, impacting the head of one of the shinobi with deadly force. Ignoring the pain that shot up his leg, he hurled the four other blades into the crowd.

Appearing amongst them, he cut down the two nearest combatants before launching a knife into the air. He flashed to it, and in seconds formed a large Rasengan. He came down with force and slammed it into the ground around the crowd. As it burrowed, he tossed another kunai out into the forest before intentionally letting the Rasengan distablize and implode. He flashed away, and watched the destruction and death he caused with a single move. Knowing he was capable of such things weighed on him in the back of his mind, but he didn't let it shake his focus. "_I can't flash back to the briefcase, I can't let a battle between jinchuriki take place in a populated area. I might have to draw them away. This fuckin leg is slowing me down."_

The blond acted quickly and launched six kunai at Roshi. The enemy jinchuriki smiled and simply melted them to nothing by spewing globs of lava to intercept each blade. "_So that's how it's gonna be." _The jounin thought. "_Thanks for this Sasuke." _He mumbled with a smirk.

He launched another set at the man and watched as he shot the lava to intercept them. Just as the lava was about to impact the blades, Naruto yanked hard on the ninja wire he had connected to two of them. The two blades veered from their original trajectory and ran into two of the others. The nudge sent them off course and they rocketed to each side of Roshi. As soon as the blades had ricocheted off one another, Naruto had formed two clones. Said doppelgangers flashed to the kunai and launched a hail of them at the lava wielding ninja. Simultaneously they threw a set behind him.

The original Naruto appeared at the kunai behind Roshi, and took a second to throw a handful of tri-prong at the now recovered Han. As soon as they left his hand, he leapt into the air. The two clones flashed close to Roshi, a Rasengan roaring to life in each one's hand. In a defensive move, the old man blasted super heated chakra from his body, courtesy of the Four Tails. Before the heat could disperse the clones, they both flashed away, appearing with their momentum carrying them forward and Rasengans bared. Han's eyes widened as he was blasted with a Rasengan on both sides of his body. The bulky jinchuriki managed to live however; by using his steam once again, and destroying the clones before they could do fatal damage.

At Han's shout of pain, Roshi's attention was pulled away for a split second. It cost him dearly, when Naruto landed kunai first into his shoulder. Before he could counter, the blond formed a large Rasengan, and proceeded to blast the old red haired man's arm clean off.

In defense of its host, the Four Tailed Monkey took over the now unconscious man's body, and his chakra quickly began to emerge. At this, Naruto leapt back off of Roshi, and was impacted in the side by the heavy boot of the severely wounded Han. As Naruto rolled to a stop from the blow, he saw the bulky man land next to the newly made amputee. Han spawned a large amount of scalding hot steam around his hand, and then grabbed hold of Roshi's stump. The beast/man screamed in pain as it's bleeding limb was cauterized. He caught a glimpse of Han slamming the most crudely and badly made suppression seal Naruto had ever seen into the back of Roshi's head. The massive jinchuriki leveled a glare at the second Yellow Flash, and picked up Roshi, before quietly retreating.

* * *

"Alright Naota, please retreat to your uncle's city and stay there. Have this village evacuated as well. We can't afford to leave it open for attack, it's going to take a while before I can get shinobi deployed out here."

"It will be done, please take care Mister Namikaze. Thank you for saving my wife."

"Gladly Naota, and please just call me Naruto. I've got to get going, but I'm going to leave some shadow clones to overwatch your village's evacuation."

"Thank you Naruto, I seriously cannot thank you enough." At this Naruto smiled and. sprinted away, leaping into the trees and making his way toward Konohagakure.

"_I've got to find out what the situation is and see what our next course of action will be."_ He thought to himself seriously. His brain was in overdrive wondering what kind of situations could be happening at the village, and he wanted to be at his home to help them prepare for war.

* * *

"What do you mean Konohamaru is missing!?"

"Settle down!" The Hokage yelled, watching as the man before her let his anger get the best of him.

"Tsunade, we're at war and the brat is missing? On the front no less?" He yelled back, his Sharingan blazing to life.

"Need I remind you that there isn't a war on yet? No official declarations have been made, and I've called for a Kage summit."

"Taki is a fuckin battleground! Naruto will kill me if he knew that I just stood by and didn't search."

Both people stopped speaking as they heard the door handle turn and click before it swung open. "Search for what?" Naruto asked as he stepped into the office. "Lady Tsunade, it's good to see you back at it."

"Thank you Naruto, and Team Twelve has gone missing."

"_Team Twelve…" _That number still left a bad taste in his mouth, after all, the members of the team from his graduating class had been wiped out right in front of him. "Who are the new members? I was kind of busy during the last graduation."

"Sarutobi Konohamaru, Hyuga Hanabi, and Inuzuka Sakumo, lead by Ebisu."

"Kono...is missing?" The blond asked, as if testing the waters.

"Yes." She answered simply. She did like the child, and was worried, but she currently needed to be in full Hokage mode.

"I see, we'll address that soon. I have to report."

"Yes?"

Naruto proceeded to explain the events that took place over the course of his week and a half long mission, and the speedy escalation that took place the day before.

"So you're telling my you killed over a platoons worth of Iwa nin, and took on two jinchuriki to a stand still?"

"Yes ma'am."

"My god you're just like Minato." She grumbled aloud. "You didn't chase them down correct?"

"No ma'am, they said the war was already on, I felt the need to come back immediately. Alongside that fact I also would prefer not to battle two jinchuriki without backup, had Roshi been able to transform, I may have been put into a very bad spot. Honestly I got lucky."

"_At least he's humble." _Thought Sasuke.

"Understandable. Well they must have said the war was on to try to throw you off. What has happened, is Iwa launched a full invasion into waterfall country. Takigakure shinobi held them back, but were forced into retreat after their jinchuuriki was removed from the equation."

"Removed from the equation?" He interrupted.

"She was beaten down by a few members of Onoki's family. They are known for their strong earth techniques, and they had plenty of shinobi to focus solely on her. Add to that the fact that she didn't nearly have mastery over her tailed beast, and she was eventually captured. Now anyway, if you'll let me finish." She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes ma'am."

"Taki nin now hold a defensive line spanning a good chunk of Waterfall Country right at their border with us. I've called the Five Kage Summit to try to get this resolved without a war, and get Iwa to pull their forces out of Taki." She said, the stress of the looming war obvious on her face.

"There's no way it's gonna work Lady Hokage, Iwa isn't just gonna back down."

"The only reason we haven't gone straight to war over this, is because I'm hoping I can get Iwa to back down anyway. Takigakure is our ally, and I won't allow them to get beaten down like this. Now, the Kage summit is in two weeks. You and Sasuke will be my bodyguards. You've made names for yourself and it will be a blatant show of force."

"If we have two weeks, then I request a mission to find Konohamaru. I'd like to know the details behind his disappearance as well." Naruto couldn't just leave the boy he saw as a brother out there to die.

"Alright, you have a week and a half. Find that silly brat and bring him back, he is Sarutobi-Sensei's grandson after all, and I do like the kid." She finished with a sigh.

"Can I bring Sasuke?" Naruto requested.

"Considering where you're going, yes you can." She said with a solemn look. "Team Twelve was undergoing an escort mission to Takigakure."

"Why did they need our nin to do the escort?" He questioned, curious as to why genin would be needed to help Taki out.

"Taki has been on a downhill slide as a ninja village for a while now, and they had been running low on manpower. It's a shame this all happened, because they were just now really starting to recover from the last two wars, and things had been finally looking up for them. Now, when the invasion started, Ebisu managed to get a message out to us informing us of the situation. We sent a force to our border immediately, but Taki had been pushed back quickly, their village fell in two days. Once our shinobi mobilized and set out, they were already pushed to the border. You will be going behind enemy lines to find a needle in a haystack. This will be highly dangerous, and there is a high chance Team Twelve may have been killed already."

"I'm gonna go see Rikka, get a shower, and we can head out tomorrow. That work for you Sasuke?"

"Hn." The Uchiha grunted in response.

"Also, I'd like a copy of Ebisu's report ma'am."

"I'll have one delivered to you, go see your girlfriend."

"Will do ma'am."

* * *

_**Hey guys! That's this chapter. Sorry it took so long, hit a bit of writer's block and had to decide where to go from here. Should be able to go full steam ahead now, but no promises on speedy updates. I post things about the story and am ready to answer questions on twitter, and on deviantart. My deviantart is **__** darlinginthefox**_ _**There is an awesome piece of art on there done by wilczyca117 please go check it out! And give the artist support!**_

_** wilczyca117/art/C-Naruto-redesign-809015021**_

_**Anyway, next chapter we begin a search for Konohamaru. **_


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter Twenty Seven**

_**Sup guys and gals, back again. Hope you like it blah blah blah blah you probably just wanna read the story so I'll shut up;)**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, I probably would have people who could animate and draw the whole story for me!**_

* * *

The entire way back from his battle with the jinchuriki from Iwa, Naruto had been trying to make a life changing decision. After the shortest chat with his best friend, he decided he would do it.

**Flashback from literally twenty minutes before.**

"_Do you love her?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Do you want to be with her forever?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Hn. Then do it you dipshit."_

"_Right, thanks S'ke."_

"_Hn."_

**End flashback. Honestly should have just wrote out the scene. **

It was early in the morning after his meeting with the Hokage, and Naruto was in a rush. His chat with Sasuke hadn't taken long, but he still didn't want to waste any time. The jounin sprinted across the rooftops, quickly making his way to the academy. Half of the kids in the classroom almost jumped when Naruto came bursting through the door.

"Iruka-Sensei!"

"What!? God Naruto! Settle down. What is so urgent?"

Whispers from the children could be heard through the room behind their conversation. Things like "_wow, is that really Namikaze Naruto?" _And other things that would have made Iruka smile like, "_Wait, he called him sensei, did sensei teach Namikaze Naruto!?"_

"Sensei this is super important, I need you to take a quick break. Please. I'm super sorry to interrupt your class, but I need to talk to you for a bit."

"Alright Naruto, calm down. Let me go grab another sensei to watch after my class for today." Said Iruka, The man wasn't one to abandon his students, but one of his students desperately needed his help, and he wouldn't let him down.

Soon Naruto and Iruka were walking down the street away from the academy, and towards the market side of Konoha. "So what is this about?" The teacher questioned.

"Iruka….I'm going to ask Rikka to marry me. I know I'm only twenty, but I'm sure of it. I love her dearly, and don't want to be with anyone else. I know how quickly a shinobi's life can end, and I don't wanna have regrets." Naruto said with a huge grin.

"If you're absolutely sure, then I think you should go through with it. But you seem dead set on this, so I have to ask. What do you need me for?" Iruka asked with a smile while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, it's a little off, but I need help finding the ring. I don't want to go alone, and you're my only family." He said with a smile at his teacher.

Iruka looked almost shocked for a moment before smiling lightly at the blond. This child, that had grown into an amazing young man, and an incredible ninja, was very much like a son to the older shinobi. Iruka was so very happy that the Third Hokage had convinced him to teach Naruto. "_Lord Third... if you could see him now."_

They stumbled around some shops chatting and browsing. The two had a fun time looking for something they thought Rikka would like. Eventually, a ring caught Naruto's eye. When he showed his mentor, he agreed as well, and now, Naruto was one step closer to having his very own family. "Thank you so much for helping me with this Iruka-Sensei. You don't know how much it means to me."

"Of course Naruto, any time." Iruka said, happy as always to help his student.

"Let's grab some ramen sensei. I'll pay, but after, I gotta go try and figure out how I'm gonna propose to her." The blond said with a grin.

Iruka chuckled before responding, "We can brainstorm at the shop." As he finished, his face split with a grin of his own.

"Right!"

* * *

"Come onnnnnnn!" Rang the voice of the loud Namikaze as he dragged Rikka out of their home by her hand.

"Naruto settle down." The bluenette giggled. "Where are you taking me? What could be so urgent?"

"You'll find out! Just come on!" He shouted with a large grin.

"Tell me." She said blankly but with a smile.

"Ugh, you're so stubborn. Fine." He opened his mouth as if he was about to speak, but instead yanked her to him and wrapped his arms around her. Before she could even protest, the blond flashed them to the top of the Hokage monument. This startled a few villagers who were on a viewing platform that looked off the mountain. They soon realized it was none other than the hero who had appeared, and they watched with quiet curiosity.

"Naruto!" She smiled. "Where have you taken me?" As always, her voice was blank, but her face conveyed her feelings. "We're atop the monument no?"

"You would be right darling." It was dusk, and the village lights were a beautiful view. Naruto loved this spot, and knew Rikka enjoyed it a lot as well. He looked out over the village before speaking. "You see Rikka, this village is my home. I'll protect it until my dying breath. Every single person in this village is my family, and I will treat them that way." He smiled and turned to face her. "But out of everyone in this village, you are the one I truly love. I don't ever want that to change, and I want our love to be permanent, and I want it to be forever." Finally the last Namikaze dropped to one knee, and drew the ring he had purchased. "Rikka, will you do me the honor of being my wife? Will you be the beginning of my family, and be my forever?"

"Naruto!" Her breath hitched, and her voice went high pitched. She could hear villagers surprise in the background. She didn't care. Her focus was on this man in front of her. He was offering to spend the rest of his life with her. He wanted to build the family he'd never had, starting with her. He wanted her. This man who was the same boy who had saved her all those years ago. "Naruto….are you stupid?" She asked quietly. "Yes...of course I'll be your wife."

"Really!? Rikka! I love you! I thought it might be too early but you said yes!" He yelled jumping up from his knee, and picking her up. The blond laughed happily as he spun the woman around in the air.

"Of course I said yes stupid. I love you." The villagers watched with smiles and cheers, and soon started clapping. He was so happy, and she was just the same. The two held their embrace, before Naruto abruptly flashed them back to their home.

* * *

"Naruto, you sense anything?" The black haired jounin inquired.

"No not yet. No enemies and no friendlies." The blond said, removing his finger from the ground and standing.

The two men had been slipping past Iwa patrols for about two days now, and were still trying to come upon the place that Ebisu had described in his message. Naruto could only hope the team had survived, especially considering the implications of a main branch Hyuga being stuck behind enemy lines. Dusk was now taking over the day, and the pair had just come upon a small goat farm.

As they snuck up to the house, Sasuke peered through the window, and saw a family eating their dinner. "_Hm, surprising they haven't evacuated." _Thought the Uchiha.

The men were stopped when they hear a gasp and a whisper. "Shi-shinobi!" Instantly Naruto was behind the origin of the sound, blade to his throat.

"I don't want to hurt you old man, so please be quiet." The man shook slightly, but looked up at Sasuke's face. When the man saw the Konoha headband he smiled.

He spoke softly under his breath to the pair. "Konohagakure shinobi? I'm sure you're here for your missing team?"

"Yes we are, what do you know?"

"We stayed behind as we refused to abandon our home, even with the invasion. Not soon after Iwa came through did we run into your team. They came in about four days ago, and were tired and beat up. We gave them food and a nights rest before we sent them off to a separate farm. We figured if we can get them through enough homes and to the border, they can escape." With this Naruto let go of the man and apologized.

"Mister, can you take us to where you sent them next?"

"No, I cannot leave my family, but let me fetch you a map. I'll show you where."

"Thank you sir, you're saving the life of someone dear to me."

"It's my pleasure son. Never turn away someone in need. That's how my papa raised me."

After a few minutes and a small argument the man had with what Naruto and Sasuke assumed was the man's daughter and her husband, the elderly man came back outside. "Now, see here, about ten miles east there's a small farmhouse. They are kind people, but they may have evacuated. Hopefully there's something to put you on their trail there."

"Thank you again mister. I promise that Iwa won't stay in your country for to long. If they won't negotiate, then we'll kick them out ourselves."

"Thank you son, please have safe travels, both of you."

With that the pair left the man and his family. Naruto couldn't help but think about how wars like this ripped apart families made up of wonderful people like that old man. It was no wonder Jiraiya longed for peace.

* * *

Naruto and his companion sifted through the wreckage of the small farmhouse. It had been burned to the ground, and they were searching for any sign of where Team Twelve may have gone. The sun had set in the last hour, and the jounin would be on high alert searching in the dark. They got lucky with a bright moon and a cloudless sky.

"There's plenty of sign that points to them heading farther east." Reported the Uchiha.

"Ah, good. At least we can go after them. There's signs of a battle. Lots of earth torn up from earth style jutsu. I'd assume that's the Iwa nin. Tons of kunai and shuriken on the ground as well. Some of its damp, I'm pretty sure Ebisu is the only one who can use water style on the team." Naruto said, observing the battle damage.

"Who do you think burned the house down?" The black haired jounin questioned the blond. He asked more out of curiosity than concern.

"Either Ebisu or Konohamaru. Kono knows the Burning Ash jutsu, and probably more." Naruto replied, betting on the goofy Sarutobi.

"I see." Sasuke replied. "Betting on Konohamaru then."

"Yeah. Well let's follow this trail, it's only about a day or two old, but it looks like a chase happened." Naruto said, standing from his crouched position over some kunai imbedded in the ground, and some scuffed marks leading into the forest.

"Right, that time frame fits with what the old man said. Hopefully we can catch up to them in time." The Uchiha replied, following after the blond.

With this the two jounin set off on the trail. They slowly investigated, stopping to pull kunai from trees as they went, trying to see if they could identify if some of them had been made in Konohagakure. The two jounin stopped as they came upon a clearing about six miles from the burned farm.

"They stopped here. Maybe to rest?" Naruto guessed, seeing signs of the group stopping. Some ration wrappers here and there, and some kunai on the ground.

"No." Sasuke replied, walking toward the base of one of the larger trees. "Someone is wounded. They changed bandages here."

"Shit, hopefully they're still alive." The jounin said, slight worry for the team creeping into his mind.

"Looks like they got cornered here though. Had to fight their way out. Look at those burn marks on the ground and in the trees." Sasuke said, examining one of the marks closely, feeling the charred wood with his hand.

"Indeed, but they made it out. There's plenty of signs they used explosive tags to help them set the enemy back." The blond replied as he pointed up, where the tops of some of the trees had been blown clean off in a fashion that closely resembled the controlled explosion of paper bombs.

"That is true. Well, let's keep going." Sasuke said, as he leapt back into the trees.

The pair made steady progress following the trail, moving quickly but being thorough nonetheless. They came across two more places the team must have stopped and changed the bandages of the wounded member. They were running out of bandages, evident by the fact that Konohamaru's scarf was now discarded on the ground and covered in blood.

Soon, there was yet another break in the trees. This time however; they were greeted with a different sight. Before the two jounin was a large mine opening. "Fuck. I hope to god they didn't let Iwa nin drive them underground. That's a death sentence." Naruto said, a small bit of frustration in his voice.

"Agreed. Let's have a look shall we?" The other man said.

The pair made their way into the mine, but found the entrance blocked off from a cave in not too far in. But it wasn't what they found their that worried them, but who.

"Ebisu!" At Naruto's shout, the eyes of a man close to death opened.

"Masters Uchiha and Namikaze… it's good to..-" He cut off as he burst into a fit of coughs.

"Hold on Ebisu, I can get you to a medic quic-"

The jounin cut off the blond with a struggled word. "No." He coughed again, blood coming up this time. The man looked beat up, but had tons of internal bleeding. The massive hole in his leg wasn't helping anything either. Blunt force trauma was an Iwa specialty, unless they pierced you with a spear of earth.

"I'm already too far gone...I've been lying here for a few hours. I'm bleeding internally, and I've drained my chakra far enough that I cannot recover. Listen...Naruto ...Konohamaru...and the others, they managed to escape. Please go after my students. I-." The man was again cut off by a fit of coughs. "I do not want them to die here, I did my best to keep them safe, but there were too many of them. I sent the children on a straight shot back to Fire country..."

"It's alright Ebisu. You did well. We'll find the brats, and I'll get them home safe. Now save your breath, it's gonna be alright, I'll have a shadow clone get you back."

"Thank you… Naruto…. I think ...that I'll rest now….." With that, the man who had given his all to protect his students died.

"Damnit." The blond said, punching the wall of the mine shaft.

"Naruto, we need to get a move on, if the kids are out there alone, they don't have long." Sasuke said.

"Right." The blond replied forming three shadow clones. They would stay behind to seal away the deceased jounin's body and bring it back to Konohagakure for a proper burial.

With this, the jounin took off at an even faster pace, intent on catching up to the children. They hauled ass in the direction that Ebisu had sent the team. Naruto hoped he could make it in time, and was almost tempted to start flashing his way forward. He knew that would be a waste of chakra, and he needed to still be cautious of an ambush.

"We'll find them Naruto." Sasuke stated in a calm tone.

"I know. Thanks buddy." The blond gave a slight smile in return as he spoke.

"Hn."

About half an hour later, the jounin could still be found leaping through the trees. They came to a halt when they heard a loud bang and watched as smoke plumed from the trees about four miles in front of them. The two cast a quick glance at one another before using the body flicker to double their speed.

Upon arrival, the pair were greeted with the sight of Konohamaru standing defensively over his teammates. Ten Iwa nin could be seen standing before the boy, one of them walking towards him menacingly. Another ten sat hidden around the small clearing in the trees, no doubt making sure there was no escape.

"Time to die brat, just like your sensei. Then we're going to take your little girlfriend, and bring a whole new bloodline to Iwa." At this Hanabi recoiled in fear. Naruto and Sasuke couldn't blame her for being scared, encountering this many high level enemy nin while still a genin would nearly break even the hardest of fresh genin. "Then finally, we'll gut your dog boy friend as well."

With a quick nod to his partner, Naruto made his move. The ten nin in the clearing suddenly found themselves surrounded and intermixed with over a dozen tri-pronged kunai. The man closest to the young Sarutobi was the first to notice. "What the fu-" He was cut off as one of Naruto's kunai cut clean through his throat, and blood spurted out onto the blond and some got on the genin.

The young boy's eyes widened at his role model's sudden appearance and intervention. Naruto flashed out of existence and reappeared behind two more of the Iwa nin. Without hesitation he buried kunai into the back of their skulls. At the same moment, a shrieking sound ripped through the air, one reminiscent of the chirping of birds. Lightning screamed through the treetops, bursting holes through the chests of half the nin up high.

Naruto wasted no time, and quickly dispatched the rest of the Iwa shinobi before they even knew what hit them. In conjunction with Naruto's quick kills, Sasuke took advantage of the expert body flicker he now possessed. Naruto and Kakashi firmly believed that Sasuke was now as skilled, if not more skilled with the body flicker than even Uchiha Shisui himself. Between the speed of Naruto and Sasuke's attacks, the two of them dispatched twenty Iwa ninja in under thirty seconds.

Naruto quickly crouched and placed his finger to the ground. Once he knew the area was clear, he stood and turned to the shell-shocked genin. "You guys alright?"

"Big brother Naruto… is… is that really you?" Konohamaru asked with tears in his eyes.

"Yeah, it's me buddy." The blond replied with a reassuring grin.

"Naruto!" He yelled as the flood gates opened. The boy leapt forward and latched onto the blond. The young Sarutobi cried into the blond's shirt as Naruto rubbed his back. At this moment, Sasuke dropped down from the tree tops and started to console the other children. The jounin knew they needed to get the kids out of their as soon as possible, but they also knew that the children were in dire need of rest.

"Alright kiddos, let's get you some rest then we'll get you home." The blond jounin said with a reassuring smile to the children. He and Sasuke quickly tracked down a spot to let the kids rest while they took watch.

It had taken them a few hours, as they needed to calm their panic, but Team Twelve finally managed to doze off. After a while, Sasuke approached Naruto. The Uchiha may be a loner, but he still got bored.

"So, when's the wedding?" The man questioned.

"As soon as we get back from the summit. She wants it sooner rather than later." Naruto replied. He couldn't help but smile at his soon to be wife.

"Is she sure about that? There's a chance that any of us could die if war breaks out." The raven haired shinobi asked.

"That's why she wants it now, live while you still can Sasuke. Do you want any regrets when you die, or would you rather die knowing you lived a happy life?" Naruto replied looking Sasuke in the eye.

"I suppose you make a good point." The Uchiha said, ending with a grunt. "Hn."

"Of course I do, I'm not stupid." The blond replied with a cocky smirk.

"Our childhood says otherwise." The Uchiha quipped with almost a snort.

"Oh go fuck yourself." Naruto retorted. "But seriously, didn't you want to rebuild your clan?" The blond asked, seriousness taking over the conversation.

"Yes...but this romance stuff is difficult. I'm… a little too antisocial." The man admitted.

"Well, what about Sakura?" Naruto offered, he knew the two had run quite a few missions together, and were quite close.

"I've… well I've considered it. She's strong now, much stronger than I ever thought she might be. And she's our friend, she's close to us and that builds a connection already. But… I don't know, I still have no idea." The Uchiha replied thoughtfully.

"Just take her on a date, and test the waters. She's and adult just like us, I'm sure she'll understand if you two don't work out." Urged the legendary twenty year old.

"Well-..." Sasuke started, only to be interrupted.

"Just fuckin do it already. Quit being a scaredy-cat." Naruto demanded.

"Fuck you Naruto." Sasuke said with a snort.

"You know I'm right S'ke. Now shut up, we've a whole damn company coming our way. Definitely Iwa nin, their chakra feels like dirt." The blond said, shifting into full shinobi mode.

"How fast?" The Uchiha asked quickly.

"Pretty quick, they must have a sensor. They seem to know where we are." Naruto said, finger on the branch.

"Damn, what's the plan?" He inquired, leaving the tactical decision to the blond.

"Have the kids run and hold them here." Naruto said confidently.

"What if they get attacked on the way?" The Uchiha asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"I'm gonna give Kono one of my kunai." He replied with a smirk.

"Alright, that works."

"I'll be back." Naruto quipped.

"Hn. Don't take too long." Sasuke replied with a grunt.

Naruto leapt out of the trees and down to the ground. Quietly but swiftly he made his way to where the kids slept. He gently shook Konohamaru awake while holding his mouth closed and shushing him. After waking the other genin, he addressed them.

"Listen up. We've got a ton of Iwa nin closing in fast. Me and Sasuke are going to stall them, but we can't go all out with you guys here. You need to run back to Fire country. Friendly lines are only about five miles out. Stick together, help each other, and don't stop. Got it?" He said, addressing the children with a highly serious tone.

"You're not coming with us?" The small boy asked, fear creeping onto his face.

"I'll be right behind you, but I have to handle these guys first. Don't worry, I won't let any of my teammates die, that includes you guys now." He said with a grin. He stopped and reached into his kunai pouch. He withdrew a tri-pronged kunai that was slightly larger than usual. "This is a special one of my kunai. I tweaked my formula a lot, so I can flash to it from much further away, okay? Take this with you, and if something goes wrong, flare your chakra. I'll sense it. But when you flare your chakra, you also have to push as much into this seal on the bottom as possible." He said showing the boy an engraved seal in the ring of the kunai. He had created it so anyone on his team could use it as a beacon to get help from him. It had an effective range of six miles, which was well outside his sensing range, and his normal teleportation range. "It's special, so don't lose it buddy. Be safe, and call me if you need me. I'll be there in a flash." Naruto finished with a wide and bright grin, reassuring all the kids that they would be safe. He then pulled Konohamaru's hand out, and opened his palm. He then gently placed the kunai in the boy's hand. "Now get going."

"You got it boss. Don't lose alright!" Konohamaru said quietly but with enthusiasm. Naruto's words had, as always, reassured the boy. He stuck out his fist to the older shinobi.

The blond bumped his fist off of the young Sarutobi's and replied, "I never do."

"Naruto, their closing in!" Came the shout of the combat ready Uchiha.

"Got it! Get going brats." Naruto said sternly.

With that, the brown haired boy pushed the Inuzuka forward, who then started running. Seeing Hanabi, who even though she was no longer scared was still unmoving, Konohamaru grabbed her hand and took off with her into the trees.

"Sasuke, I never did ask. Did Tsunade do the transplant?" Naruto questioned.

"Yeah. She did why?" A look of curiosity on his face.

"Just wanted to know if we can count on that Susanoo and black fire of yours." The blond said, his brain was running through many battle scenarios.

"Obviously, but I doubt we'll need it. Between the two of us, we'll mop these rock biters up quick." The Uchiha said with confidence.

"Don't be so hasty." Naruto cautioned.

"You're no fun Namikaze." The man quipped in return.

"Shut up, and don't hold back." Naruto said, with a light smile.

As they bickered, a squad of Iwa nin landed before them. Naruto could sense the rest of their company spread out through the trees.

"Turn back, and let us be on our way, there is no need for any bloodshed today."

"Fuck you Namikaze! Your pops killed tons of our shinobi, we're gonna kill you for it."

"You do realize he has the same skills as his father? He can just do exactly what his father did and slaughter you." Sasuke said, internally stunned by the arrogance of the Iwa nin.

"The last Uchiha too huh? We heard there was a Hyuga but to have a chance to grab up the Sharingan too? That's just icing on the cake." With this the Iwa nin drew their blades, and the slaughter began. The company was made of mostly chunin, but the squad before them were all jounin.

Sasuke's eyes quickly changed, and he set the squad ablaze with the black flames of Amaterasu. Seeing their comrades die, the rest jumped into the fight. The flashing then started, and men and women began falling dead. Sasuke proved capable yet again with his body flicker, and over the course of about six minutes the entire company was dead, save for one last squad.

They had managed to actually stay alive and fighting with the pair. The squad was made up of some of the best ANBU Iwa had ever produced.

Sasuke was forced to side step as a massive fist of stone impacted the ground he had occupied. With a quick body flicker, he finally made his way behind the attacker and ran him through with his sword. He was caught off guard when a spear of earth skewered his target straight through and managed to stab into his own shoulder. Wrenching himself free, he rolled away as a shower of kick ball sized stones rocketed into the ground he had landed on.

Meanwhile Naruto flashed away as another hole opened in the earth, pulling everything above it in and quickly snapping shut with force. It was quite the annoying jutsu, though he supposed they could say that about his own as well. The enemy was removing his kunai from the battlefield in large numbers. He had plenty more at home, but he had neglected to bring his scroll along this time. Luckily, he did have a backup set in a storage seal on the inside of his pouch at all times. A large explosion went off that sent Naruto hurling into the air. The blond quickly flashed away to regain sense of his surroundings, and at the same time, Sasuke joined him.

"What just happened?" Asked the Sharingan weilder, he'd heard the loud explosion, but hadn't seen the cause.

"I dunno, the explosion came out of nowhere. Did you get any?"

"Just one."

"Three left then."

Two Iwa nin dropped down on each side of them, before one dropped down in the middle. The man wore a brown kasa, and had a large box strapped to his back. "I am Dojuro. Part of Iwagakure's blast battalion. They sent these two boys with me to fish out the Konoha scum that were hiding in our new addition."

"This land belongs to Taki, not Iwa."

"We took it, so it's ours. You tree huggers aren't gonna stop us."

"I'm tired of this Naruto." Spoke the Uchiha. His Susanoo roared to life around him. The now armored form struck fear into one of the Iwa nin.

"Wha- What the hell!" Before the man could turn and run, the last Uchiha skewered him with an arrow.

"Shit!" Yelled the man now identified as Dojuro. He flew through hand seals, and silently set off a jutsu. The lid of the box on his back popped off, and a massive worm like column of white clay shot from it, and as it sailed over the pair of Konoha nin, a large length dropped off. Meanwhile the remainder of the column retracted back to its owner.

Sasuke quickly recognized just _what _this white substance was. He glanced over at his friend as the Iwa man moved his hands into the snake seal. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw that Naruto's full focus was on the last nin they faced, and the blond was far too oblivious to the danger that had just reached them. "Naruto! Teleport!" He screamed.

The blond finished parrying his attacker, and slid his blade across the man's throat. The spiky haired man then spun around to face his friend. "Wha-? Oh fuc-" The jounin was cut off when the explosive went off. It tore apart the entire clearing as the Iwa nin surrounded himself with a protective dome of stone. Everything in a half mile radius was blown away, and most of it incinerated. "Naruto!" Yelled the Uchiha, uncaring as the armor of his Susanoo was ripped away by the might of the explosion. This left Sasuke standing alone in a crater, covered in the skeleton of his Susanoo. It had all happened in under five seconds.

"Naruto?" The Uchiha asked, disbelief in his voice. He glanced around and saw the final Iwa nin had made a hasty retreat during the blast. "Naruto don't fuck with me." He spoke aloud.

A quiet noise was heard and a flash of yellow light went off next to the last Uchiha. He spun around and saw his best friend. He was far from relieved when he saw his companion. The blond's flak jacket had been shredded. His chest, arms, and legs were covered in burns, cuts, and shrapnel. Blood poured from a large wound on his leg. "Shit man!"

"Heh, I guess I got careless. Can't do much….with speed….if I don't know what's going on around me. I thought….Jiraiya beat situational awareness into me...ow…"

"Naruto, it's gonna be alright, hang on." Said Sasuke as he grabbed the blond and began to lift him up. "How'd you survive."

"I flashed away, but I did it too late to avoid catching some of the blast." The blond spoke through gritted teeth. Suddenly the blond's eyes widened, and Sasuke felt him tense.

"What is it."

"Konohamaru is in trouble. Hang on."

With that, the two felt the sensation that came with teleportation via the Flying Raijin. They appeared behind the genin, and quickly took in the situation. Naruto saw a large Iwa nin standing over the Sarutobi boy, a sword poking at his chest. The man was obviously going to skewer the genin.

"Don't touch him!" Yelled Naruto before Sasuke even had a chance to react. The blond pushed himself out of Sasuke's grip and at the same moment flung a kunai at the Iwa shinobi. The man turned and managed to tilt his head slightly to the side and dodge the blade.

The enemy grinned maniacally at the blond and said, "too late." As the kunai passed by his skull.

With this Naruto returned a smirk of his own, and simply replied with, "never." The blond for the moment having forgotten his injuries flashed behind the man and buried a Rasengan into the man's chest cavity. Blood squirted out, and covered some of Naruto's arm.

"Big brother Naruto! You came!?"

With a smile the blond looked down at the boy, but felt his strength fading. His body was using a large mix of his own chakra and the Nine Tails' to heal his wounds. "I told you Kono, I'll be there in a flash." With those words, Naruto collapsed from physical exhaustion. The rapid healing rate put a great deal of strain on his physical strength, along with tiring him out quickly. Sasuke caught the blond just barely before he hit the ground.

"Is he gonna be okay?" The Sarutobi boy asked in worry.

"The idiot? Yeah, he'll be fine." Sasuke said with a light chuckle.

"Oh good, I was worried."

"Hn. Alright, let's get out of here."

"Right!" Came the response of the genin.

* * *

"Congratulations on the successful rescue of Team Twelve." The Hokage said, addressing the jounin. She soon turned her gaze to the three genin. "I'm sorry for your loss, but I'm going to need you to recount the events of your mission."

Sakumo's gaze turned to the floor, and Hanabi still looked slightly shell-shocked. Konohamaru however; griminced once, before looking up and staring the Hokage in the eyes. "Okay. I'll tell it."

* * *

Takigakure, the day of the Iwagakure blitz.

"Team, let's go!"

"Sensei what's going on!?"

"Taki is being invaded. Come children, we need to get back to Konohagakure and inform them of what is going on."

"But sensei!-"

Konohamaru was cut off by the extremely stern and heavy voice of Ebisu. "Konohamaru. No more questions. You will do what I say, when I say it. That goes for all of you. If you don't, I have no doubt the Iwa shinobi will wipe us out. Do you understand?"

He got a single reply from all three genin at once. "Yes sensei."

"Good, now let's move."

After some time of rest, and a lot of stealth evasion of enemy patrols, the team had found themselves at the old man's home. He gave them food, and let them get a nights rest before sending them on their way to the next farm.

Team Twelve sat resting in the second farm. They had arrived at the farmhouse to find it abandoned. They made use of the home as a quick shelter for the night. Unbeknownst to the Konohagakure shinobi, a decently sized squad of Iwa nin had caught their scent just before they had found the farmhouse. Night settled over the farm, and Sakumo sat outside on lookout duty. The Inuzuka boy and his dog Kaoru had taken first watch, and were unaware of the nearby threat. Upon noticing the Inuzuka and his dog, the Iwa nin took extensive measures to hide their scent.

Finally, after some more observation, the nin made their move. One launched from the trees at the boy, and only thanks to his enhanced hearing was he able to stop the attack. The boy stared the Iwa nin in the eyes as they locked blades. As they did, the dog let out loud barks, alerting the shinobi in the house.

The Konoha nin were outside in seconds, and a fight broke out quickly. Ebisu launched off water jutsu, trying to attack and counter the Iwa nin. The earth ripped apart and reshaped around the team, Iwa ninja showing their aptitude for earth jutsu as always. Meanwhile, the genin exchanged kunai and shuriken with some of the other Iwa nin, the young ninja barely holding up against the enemy. Suddenly, Ebisu's voice broke through the silence. "You three! Get inside!" With that, Ebisu strained himself to fire off a massive version of the water wall jutsu. The river near the farm house and the massive amount of groundwater in the area were the only things even making this possible. At the same time, Konohamaru and Hanabi had made it in the house, but Sakumo had just started for the door.

An enemy nin, seeing an opening on the Inuzuka boy, sped through hand seals. The Iwa nin let off his jutsu, and a spear of earth rocketed at the boy. At the last second, Ebisu appeared, and tackled the boy through a window, the spear of earth rammed through the man's thigh, but the earth broke away without stopping their momentum. Ebisu rolled through the window, boy and dog in hand, and was greeted with Konohamaru and Hanabi. The man quickly bandaged his wound, before he motioned for the team to follow him. As they made their way to the front of the farmhouse, three Iwa nin came busting through the windows in the back. A quick thinking Konohamaru filled the house with ash, and as Ebisu ripped the boy from the home, he ignited it with his teeth. The resulting fireball blew the house apart, and roasted the Iwa shinobi. This all took place over the course of a minute.

Ebisu's team rushed into the tree line and made a run for it. About six miles into the forest, they stopped to change Ebisu's bandages. Hanabi helped their sensei re-wrap his leg, and the boy's set up some explosive tags in the trees. They were soon attacked again by Iwa shinobi, and Konohamaru once again managed to hold them back by using his ash as a trap. The team took to the trees again, and the boys set off the explosive tags as the enemy made to follow them.

They blazed their own trail through the forest, stopping to bandage their sensei's still bleeding wound twice more. Konohamaru was worried, as they had just used up their last bandage. Soon they were forced to make a third stop. Ebisu was losing quite a lot of blood, and it was starting to affect him. Konohamaru removed his scarf, and used it to replace the blood soaked bandages on his teacher's leg. Continuing on, the group finally came to a break in the trees. Here, they were greeted with the sight of a mine, and they could tell the Iwa nin were close.

Ebisu thinking quickly, formed three shadow clones, and had them transform into the children. This used up quite a lot of his chakra, and Ebisu found himself close to his limit, add on the blood loss, and things weren't looking good. The sensei turned to his students, and crouched down in front of Konohamaru. He looked at his student in the eye and smiled. "I was happy to be a sensei to all of you. Look," he said pointing off in the direction of the Taki/Konoha border. "Head that way, and don't stop alright? Stay together, and don't give up. I'll lead them away, and buy you time. I'll be right behind you after I deal with them."

"Sensei-."

Ebisu interrupted the boy before he could finish. "Konohamaru, that's an order. Be strong and look after your teammates."

"Y-Yes sensei."

"Good, now go!"

With that the children ran off into the woods, and Ebisu sent the shadow clones down into the mine as soon as the Iwa nin broke the tree line. With the shadow clones as bait, and Ebisu himself there to stall, he could only hope the genin would make it back to the border. As the children ran off, they heard Ebisu shout at the enemy, "I won't let you harm them!"

The children ran through the woods for a while, and eventually a large group of nin must have gotten past Ebisu, or avoided him completely, because they caught up. This is where Naruto and Sasuke found them, and the story of Team Twelve ended.

* * *

"And that's when Naruto showed up and saved us." Konohamaru said as he finished recounting his story.

"I see. Thank you for explaining." The Hokage responded. "Now, Naruto, you said you were injured? Looks like you healed up fine?"

"Ah yes, Sasuke and I stopped off at the border. The spot you set up a support effort to help Takigakure fight Iwa is impressive. (Tsunade had sent a guard group, and a group of medical nin to the border to help treat Takigakure's wounded.) Sakura healed me up. She's an impressive medic nin now. They're doing good work down there."

"I'm glad to hear that. Well now, Team Twelve will have to be put on the back burner until we can find you a new sensei-.." She was cut off when the door opened and in walked an angry Hyuga clan head.

"It's obvious my daughter was not assigned a strong enough sensei to protect her. What do you-."

Suddenly the man was cut off by Naruto. "I ask you not to disrespect the sacrifice Ebisu made to keep these children safe. Hang out for a minute Lord Hyuga, I think you'll want to hear this." He said to the clan head before turning back to the Hokage. "Ma'am, I hereby officially request that Team Twelve be rebranded as the new Team Seven. I will be their sensei."

* * *

_**Now, I know he jumped into the marriage early, but they've been friends for a while. Trust me when I say, when you meet the right person, you know. You know it's them. And that's how it is for these two. Add onto it they could die any day. Live while you still can. Plus if you really want to argue with me then I pull out my secret weapon: Plot Armor!**_

_**Check out Naruto and Rikka by wilczyca117 on deviantart. She's crazy good and did great work. I'll put the links here, there's one for a solo version of Naruto as well.**_

_** wilczyca117/art/C-Naruto-redesign-809015021**_

_** wilczyca117/art/C-Couple-809449240**_

_**I had a ton of fun writing this chapter, I feel like I did a lot better with my characters, and I feel like the writing was much better than normal. I'm pretty proud of it, and hope you enjoy it as well. That's all for now, thanks for your support. Darling in the Fox out!**_


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter Twenty Eight**

_**Sup. Sorry this took so long. I've been very busy and just had to put my dog down. :( Also go check out Naruto and Rikka by wilczyca117 on deviantart. She's crazy good and did great work. I'll put the links here, there's one for a solo version of Naruto as well.**_

_** wilczyca117/art/C-Naruto-redesign-809015021**_

_** wilczyca117/art/C-Couple-809449240**_

_**I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, I wouldn't have to go to work in thirty minutes.**_

* * *

"Ma'am, I hereby officially request that Team Twelve be rebranded as the new Team Seven. I will be their sensei." Naruto said, the confidence evident in his stature.

The Hokage's jaw dropped. "You… want to make them your genin team?"

"I'm sure I can keep them all safe, and I see potential in these brats." The blond said with a confident smirk. Meanwhile, the children, the clan head, and even Sasuke stared at him in shock. It had also blown away the Hokage as well, the last thing she had expected from Naruto was that he offer to take a genin team. "Furthermore, with the possibility of war looming on the horizon, they should have a sensei that can keep them safe even on the battlefield if need be."

"This would be sufficient in my expectations for the new sensei Lady Hokage." Spoke the clan leader.

"Naruto does have a way with kids. Hn. Maybe I should take a team as well." Sasuke said, surprising the whole room. "I'll have to consider it."

The Hokage quickly got over her shock at the Uchiha's words, and turned her gaze to the blond. "Very well, Team Twelve will be rebranded as Team Seven, and will have jounin Namikaze Naruto as their sensei."

"Awesome!" Yelled Konohamaru.

"Settle Kono." Naruto said in a commanding tone.

"Now, for the record, if war does break out, unless we have a severe shortage of manpower like we did in the third war, genin will not participate in any missions involving the war."

"Yes ma'am, understood." The blond spoke.

"That means you'll be away from your team quite a lot Naruto, and if this goes down, you're going to play an important role." The Hokage said, clarifying how this would be for the blond jounin.

"Yes ma'am, will there be anything else today?"He asked. As much as the man didn't mind his shinobi duties, he still wanted to get home to his fiance.

"No that's all, you may all be dismissed. Hiashi please stay, I'd like a word with you." She finished, motioning for the clan head to take a seat.

With that, Naruto, Sasuke, and the new Team Seven left the Kage's office. The jounin turned to look at each other, and Naruto broke the silence. "See ya around y'know." He said with a smile before holding out his fist to his friend.

"Hn." Replied the mostly stoic Uchiha, bumping his fist off Naruto's before walking away. Naruto watched his friend leave, before he turned to his new team.

"Alright guys, meet me at training ground seven tomorrow alright?"

"Yes sensei." The three replied. At this, the Namikaze smirked at them, before disappearing in a flash of yellow.

* * *

Rikka stood in the kitchen humming to herself. She was cooking a meal, and she had heard Naruto had returned from his mission. She had come back from her own mission the day before; a quick document delivery to Sunagakure.

She liked Suna a lot, but would always rather be home in Konohagakure. She was starting to feel lonely without Naruto, but as always he continued to find new ways to surprise her. Only this time his surprise was flashing into existence right in front of her, and shocking her so much that she dropped the stew pot she held.

Her jaw dropped at the sight of her lover, and she stood for a moment with a shocked expression before finally smiling. "You're back." She said, in her standard monotone.

"Looks that way doesn't it?" The blond said with an amused grin. He then motioned to the ground and quipped at his fiance. "You made a mess."

"Only because you decided to scare me. You can clean it up." She retorted with a smirk.

"Awww do I have to?" The blond whined, before pulling off his flak jacket. He always kept multiple sets of clothing and a few replacement flak jackets in a storage scroll on his missions.

"No, have a shadow clone do it you dolt." She said blankly, but with an amused smile while walking over to the kitchen table.

"Ah, Rikkkkkaaaaa. How could you? You wound me so." He said with a fake frown.

"Oh hush, how was your mission?" She said dismissively, before asking about his adventure.

"I brought Kono back, but it didn't really go that well, sadly Ebisu was killed, and I may or may not have gotten hurt a little. Add onto that Sasuke and I had to kill a lot of Iwa nin." Naruto said while trying to skim over the fact he had been injured.

"You were wounded?" She asked with concern, instantly singling out that fact.

"Um… I kind of got exploded." He said while scratching at his cheek. Rikka stared at him, worry showing heavily on her face. He moved with his ridiculous natural speed, and grabbed her by the waist. He leaned her down, as if they had just finished a long dance, and planted his lips on her own. Finally, the blond pulled away and spoke. "I'm fine Rikka really. It wasn't that bad. I just caught the tail end of the blast. Sakura fixed me up to tip top shape at the border."

"You need to be more careful." She said blankly, but she couldn't hide the bright blush that burned her cheeks from the sudden kiss.

"I know, it was entirely my fault. I was too focused on what was in front of me, and I got arrogant. I underestimated the enemy, that's something Jiraiya-Sensei taught me to never do." The blond said looking down.

"Naruto, you're an extremely powerful shinobi, just like your father and your sensei. But you and I both know that even the slightest mistake will get even the best shinobi killed." She said, reaching up and cupping his cheek. "I love you, and you made a promise to return to me. And you're not exactly the type to break a promise, right?"

"Yes ma'am, that's correct." The man replied with a loving smile.

"Good." She said before stepping away into the closet. She came back out seconds later and shoved a mop into his hands. "Now clean up that mess." She said blankly.

* * *

After having found out his team had not completed the water walking exercise, he had quickly instructed them to do just that. The team of children got to work, and he explained to them that he wanted it done by the time he got back from the Kage summit. The blond however; did secretly ask Kakashi to watch over them while he was gone, and step in to help them if necessary.

With that, the blond and his raven haired friend departed Konoha with the Fifth Hokage. They soon begin their journey to the Land of Iron. The samurai there had agreed to host it, as it was a neutral country, and the samurai had no interest in fighting in shinobi wars. However; they didn't wish to see another shinobi war break out, hence the summit.

Naruto and Sasuke were well aware of what could happen at this summit. Best case scenario, negotiations would go well and Iwa would pull out of Taki, and the shinobi world could avoid another war. Worst case scenario, a full scale battle between the Kage could break out at the summit. Luckily enough, Naruto and Sasuke were strong enough to compete at that level.

Naruto knew Tsunade was feeling the pressure. She knew the things she said at this meeting, could mean the difference between war and peace. Naruto and Sasuke were well aware of the fact that they hadn't helped the case for peace. They were both responsible for the deaths of over three dozen Iwa shinobi. However; Iwa had killed a Konohagakure jounin, and hunted a genin team. Add to it they forced Naruto and Sasuke to fight them, and were given plenty of opportunity to not engage in combat.

Eventually, Naruto put these thoughts far from his mind. It was time to focus on the task at hand. He knew his duty: protect the Hokage at all costs. He wasn't that worried however; an Uchiha, a Senju, and an Uzumaki who was the son of one of the most legendary Kage to ever live, was nothing to scoff at.

* * *

They all entered the room, everyone tense. With the world so on edge, the leaders all sat in difficult positions. They were greeted finally by the leader of the Land of Iron. "Thank you all for coming. I am happy to host this summit as a neutral party. I ask that no hostile actions happen here, anything you can't settle here you can handle in your own lands." Mifune said as he greeted the five Kage. "Now, if you will all please have a seat."

The Kage all got themselves situated, and the room went quiet. Old Ōnoki stared down the blond with anger and contempt in his eyes, and the Raikage looked at him with caution. The redheaded Mizukage sat quietly, watching the tension form in the room. Gaara looked calm and collected as always, clearly waiting for someone else to start. Naruto watched as his own Kage leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table, while folding her hands together and resting her chin in them.

Mifune broke the silence finally. "Lady Hokage, maybe you should start, considering you called this summit."

"Yes thank you Mifune. I'm sure you all already know why I've called you all here. Iwa has invaded our ally Takigakure. In an effort to avoid another war, I've called you here to attempt to negotiate your immediate withdrawal from Waterfall Country." She said, staring down Ōnoki with intensity.

The old man unexpectedly leapt forward in his seat and shoved a finger out at Naruto. "You dare to come to the negotiation table with _that _man in tow!?"

"Yes I do. Naruto is extremely skilled, and I saw no reason not to bring him along." She said with a glare.

"He and his father have slaughtered my nin! I should kill him here!" The man yelled in anger. Sasuke had to force himself to hold back a snort at the words of the Kage.

"Are you threatening me Ōnoki?" She asked with a serious tone.

"He. Killed. My. Nin." Each word was accented by the man's fist impacting the table.

"And your nin killed one of mine, add to that they hunted a genin team relentlessly through Takigakure. Genin, not chunin or jounin, fresh genin." She said, countering the old man's argument.

"What reason do I have to pull out of Taki?" He said, sitting back and crossing his arms like an angry child.

"Preventing another war. Taki is our ally, and we will back them in any conflict. I simply came here to give you the opportunity to spare the world from another war."

"Is it true that you've invaded Takigakure unprovoked?" Questioned Mifune.

"I too, would like to know if this is true." Spoke up the Mizukage, taking an interest in the situation.

"Taki shinobi had been crossing into our borders repeatedly, and had been skirmishing with our ninja. I simply took action."

"You stomped your way in thinking Konoha didn't have the might to retaliate!" Tsunade said with a raised voice, this man was starting to piss her off.

"I find it hard to believe a minor nation would attempt to anger one of the big five out of nowhere. Can you prove this?" Inquired the other female Kage.

"Other than eye witnesses, I cannot." The elder man replied.

"Kumo is inclined to believe Onoki's claims. I have nin who witnessed this themselves." The Raikage chimed in.

"You." Said Tsunade, turning to the large man. "You're not free of guilt either! Don't think I don't know about your nin snooping around the border of the Land of Hot Water."

The Raikage almost recoiled at this accusation, but managed to hide his surprise. "I assure you I have no idea what you are talking about."

Mifune's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the Raikage. "The Land of Hot Water has _always _been a neutral country. Not once have they participated in a war."

"I most certainly have not had-."

"I will send a samurai messenger, and ask the leader of the Land of Hot Water herself." Said Mifune, interrupting the large man.

Finally, the Kazekage chose his time to chime in. "I'm not one for accusations, but since we're at it, our ally; The Land of Bears, has informed me of multiple trespassings by Iwagakure."

"Boy! Are you even of an age where you can know what you speak of?" Called out Ōnoki.

"I assure you Gaara might be one of the most capable Kage I have seen in my life." Tsunade interjected.

"Thank you, Lady Hokage." Gaara replied with a smile and a nod.

Mifune interrupted, and put the summit back on track. "This is not what this summit was called for. We are here to discuss the matter of Takigakure, first and foremost. Lord Tsuchikage, what would you require to pull your forces out of Takigakure peacefully?"

"Hmph. Lives for lives maybe? And monetary compensation for the deaths of my shinobi."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at the old man. "Lives for lives?"

"Sacrifice your shinobi, so I can bring peace to their families, and pay for the expenses the families may encounter now." The man finally made a demand, no matter how outlandish it may be.

"Who are you implying I _sacrifice_?"

"The Namikaze." At this, a "_clink_" echoed in the background as Sasuke gripped his sword. Naruto just stood calmly, leaning against the wall. "And the Uchiha." That got the blond's attention, and in response he drew a kunai and began twirling it around his finger by the ring.

"Excuse me?" The Hokage asked. She couldn't believe the nerve of this man. "I would be happy to talk terms with the monetary situation if it could possibly avoid a war, but you're demanding the deaths of two of my most talented shinobi?"

"Indeed I am, they are single handedly responsible for the deaths of my shinobi. No other Konoha nin has made any aggressive acts towards Iwa but these two."

Tsunade had had enough. She stood from her seat, and the entire room went tense. She waved a single hand, and Naruto and Sasuke walked up to her sides. "Ōnoki, remove your forces from Taki, or I will remove them myself. You've come here with an obvious agenda, and I won't stand for the outlandish demands."

"Do you want a war, Tsunade?"

"No, but if I must fight one to keep my allies safe, then I will."

"Now now I'm sure-." Mifune was cut off.

"I'm sorry Lord Mifune, I don't mean to disrespect you like this, but I will be leaving now. We're done here. I thank you for your hospitality." Tsunade spoke.

The Raikage broke the table they sat at in anger, but before he could speak he was interrupted by the blade of Mifune's sword in his face. "There will be no shinobi battle in my country."

"I came here to try to give the world a chance to rest from war a bit longer. Honestly, I should have declared war the minute you invaded Takigakure." She said staring down the Tsuchikage. "I apologize for wasting your time Lord Mifune. Lord Kazekage would you like to come along?" She asked, turning her head to Gaara and his siblings. With a nod, the Kazekage stood, and walked over to the Hokage. Naruto set his hand on Tsunade's shoulder, and Sasuke did the same on the other side. Gaara stood next to Naruto, and the blond put his hand on the Kazekage's shoulder as well. The redhead then did the same to his brother, who mimicked the action with his sister.

"It's quite alright, I'm sorry it had to end this way Tsunade." The leader of Iron country said.

"So am I." She said sadly. "Let's go Naruto." Now, with a simple flex of his chakra to show off to the enemy, the blond flashed all six shinobi out of the room. Onoki's teeth ground together at the sight of the plight of his existence.

"Lord Raikage, I do hope you will join me in this war?"

"Gladly Lord Tsuchikage."

"Keep your war away from my village." Said the Mizukage, before she stood and quickly left the building.

* * *

"Thanks for coming Gaara, sorry it was a waste of time." Naruto said, shaking the hand of the redhead.

"I couldn't just ignore a Kage summit." He replied with a smile. "It wasn't a waste of time either, yourself and Sasuke taught me a lot, and I'm always happy to visit the both of you."

"Hn. I guess it's not that bad running into you sometimes." Comment the Sharingan weilder.

"Good to see you too Uchiha." Gaara replied, he'd figured out the hidden meaning to most of Sasuke's comments during their last interaction.

"Hn."

"We must be on our way now. It seems we must prepare our villages for war." The young Kage said solemnly. "It was good to see you, Lady Hokage."

"You as well, Lord Kazekage." The blond woman replied.

With this the six separated, and they began making their way home. The villages would soon be at war, and they had to be prepared. Tsunade almost laughed, thinking about how much the two Nara's in the command structure would go on about the war being a drag.

"Tsunade, I want in on the first force headed to Takigakure." Naruto said calmly.

"You have a genin team now, you're respo-.."

"I know, and I will take care of the children, but for now I want to save as many lives as possible in the opening days of the war." Naruto said stubbornly after interrupting her.

"Fine. Be that way." She huffed.

"Tsunade... will you be coming to the wedding?" He asked looking away and scratching his cheek.

The woman smacked the jounin in the back of the head and laughed loudly. "Of course! I wouldn't miss it in a million years!"

"Thank you." He replied with a smile. He then turned to his best friend and grinned. "You're not gonna chicken out are you _best man_? I know Sakura and you are coming as a pair." The blond said teasingly. After the death of Ryuko, Sakura and Rikka had become very close. Due to Rikka's time being commonly spent with Naruto, she saw a lot of Sakura, so they hung out a long even when he had left. This resulted in Sakura being the maid of honor.

Sasuke glared at his friend for the teasing, but replied nonetheless. "Of course I won't idiot."

"Good!" The blond was beaming, and very excited. Rikka would soon be his bride, and it filled him with happiness.

* * *

"Hey ...Iruka sensei?" Naruto asked almost nervously.

"What's up Naruto? Is something wrong." The teacher asked. He and the blond sat at their favorite ramen shop, and they had been talking for over an hour. The teleporting shinobi had sought out his former instructor as soon as he'd gotten back from his mission to the Kage summit. Rikka was off on a mission of her own, and hadn't been there when he'd arrived home.

"Will you… um well.." The Namikaze managed to spit out. "_Damnit! Why can't I ask him something so simple….I-I doubt he'd turn me down...right?" _The blond thought to himself.

"Naruto, whatever it is, it's fine to tell me."

Finally Naruto sighed aloud and turned to face one of the people who had shaped who he was today. "Iruka-sensei.. will you attend the ceremony as my father?"

To say the chunin was shocked would be an understatement. "You want me to take that spot?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yes. I'm sure I want it to be you, and I think my dad would approve as well. There's no one else in the world I would want to take his spot in the wedding but you." The blond replied with a light smile.

"Naruto...of course I will. You can count on me."

"Thank you...Iruka."

* * *

**I'm not gonna write the wedding. I've been to plenty, and as important and symbolic as they are, they're feckin boring.**

* * *

Naruto was found in the kitchen, cooking himself and his new wife breakfast. He had a wide smile, but on the inside something had him feeling down. With the Fourth Shinobi World War about to kick off, the blond and his bluenette bride would have to postpone their honeymoon until the war was won. This saddened the two as well, due to the fact that no one knew how long this war might be.

He smiled at the thought of his wedding. It wasn't too large of a ceremony, but all of his friends had attended, as did his new genin. The Daimyo and his nephew had also come, the blond now being quite close friends with the Feudal Lord. The blond finished cooking, and made his way toward the bedroom to wake his wife. Along the way, he stopped and glanced over at a photo. He smiled at the grinning faces of his mother and father. His hand reached out, and lifted the photo from its resting place. "_Mom, Dad. I found a wonderful woman, and I've made her my wife. I have a family of my own now. I hope you are proud of me. Thank you for giving me this life, I'll protect my family and my village at all costs." _The blond felt his heart clench at the absence of his parents, but smiled nonetheless.

The jounin placed the photo back down, and entered his bedroom. There he observed the beautiful sleeping form of Namikaze Rikka. His smile grew wider at the sight of her, and he moved to the bed. He leaned down, and kissed her, stirring the woman from her sleep. "Mmm ...Naruto?" She asked sleepily.

"That's me. Come on now, it's time to wake up. I made breakfast."

With a groan, the beautiful female cracked open an eye to look at her husband. "Okay… I'll be out in a minute." She said while stretching her arms and yawning.

"Alright, don't take too long though or it will get cold." He said. The blond started to walk out of the bedroom, only to be stopped by her words as he reached the doorway.

"I love you Naruto." The bluenette said groggily.

"And I love you Rikka." Came his reply, followed by a light chuckle.

A few minutes later, Naruto was greeted with a wonderful sight. Rikka stepped through the doorway to the kitchen, clad in only her underwear, and one of Naruto's standard Konoha uniform shirts. It was one of his many black shirts. He kept a few blue ones, like that of which his father wore, but most were black. The girl stepped through the doorway rubbing her eyes, and attempting to wake herself up. She sat down at the table with a yawn, and smiled at her lover. "Thank you for the food." She said.

The blond just stood by the counter for a minute, drinking a cup of coffee and watching the wonderful woman he had married. Finally, he too sat down and began eating. "So I'm going to test my genin's skills in full today, would you like to come along?"

She smiled at him, but shook her head in the negative. "I'd like to, but I desperately need to finish painting the room upstairs. I've put it off for much too long after starting it. With the war beginning soon, I probably won't have any time to do so."

"Ah yes, I forgot you started that, I haven't been upstairs in a while, but I suppose I spend most of my time in our bedroom, my study, or the kitchen, and that's all downstairs. What color did you decide on again?" The blond asked, attempting to remember on his own.

"Grey." She said blankly.

"Ah, I remember now! From the one wall you did finish, I remember that it looked pretty good." He replied with a smile.

She grinned back at him before replying. "I like how it turned out, I'm actually quite excited to finish it."

"Well, if I'm back soon enough, I'd love to help dear." The blond offered.

"I would enjoy that." She said, her eyes shining but her voice flat.

"Perfect."

The couple finished their breakfast, and soon, Naruto was at the door with Rikka standing with him. He leaned down and kissed her as he pulled on his jounin vest, and smiled at her as he zipped it up.

She smiled back at him and said, "don't hurt them too badly now."

"I'll be gentle, you have nothing to worry about y'know!" He replied with a thumbs up.

"Good. Now go, they're waiting." She said pushing him out the door. "I love you."

"I love you too." With that he leaned forward and kissed her once more, before disappearing in a flash of yellow.

* * *

"All you have to do is take these bells from me." He said with a soft smile.

"That's all?" The Inuzuka boy asked, dumbfounded.

"Yup, I want to see if you're worth it as a team." Naruto snickered inwardly, he knew it wasn't nearly as easy as they thought. This would be the first time the blond man would have a mock battle with them, as he had only friend the group before.

"Alright! Let's do this!" Konohamaru yelled, punching his fist into his palm.

Hanabi nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, let's get this done." She said confidently.

"_Seems she's broken out of the shell shock she had… hm, good." _Naruto thought to himself smiling. "Alright, let's begin! Come at me with the intent to kill, or you won't stand a chance. The test starts now!" As soon as the jounin finished his sentence, the genin scattered. He smiled to himself, at least they knew not to do something dumb like stand in the middle of the clearing and yell at him or something.

He walked to the tree in the center of the clearing, and leaned against it, crossing his arms. Unbeknownst to the genin observing him, he'd placed his finger against the tree. Being a sensor, and a skilled one at that, Naruto knew exactly where each genin was. He smiled, and pulled out a book. Unlike his own team sensei, Naruto's book was not smut. It _was_ however; one of Jiraiya's books. He held in his hands the full production print of Jiraiya's final book. A book the sage had finished writing only a day before his death. "_The Tale Of The Prodigal Son."_

"_Does he really take us so lightly!?" _Thought the genin unanimously. "_But…. he did wipe out a ton of enemy shinobi…. Sensei is strong."_

Hanabi quickly used her Byakugan to find her teammates. She made her way to Sakumo first and dragged him off to find Konohamaru. Once they had regrouped, they decided they would need to test the waters. All of the genin performed the clone jutsu, sending the clones formed by the academy jutsu to 'attack' Naruto. Naruto smiled at the clones, having known from the chakra levels exactly what they were.

The genin were thrown off guard when Naruto didn't even flinch as all the clones leapt at him, kunai bared. They all dispersed at contact with his body, and the genin were shocked at his unflinching demeanor.

"First test, ninjutsu!" Naruto yelled out. If that was what they wanted, he would provide. "Wind Style: Gale Palm!" Naruto said, announcing his technique to the genin. He pumped just enough chakra into it to rip some of the smaller branches out of the trees in which the genin hid.

"Shit!" The young Sarutobi exclaimed as he and his friends were blasted out of their perch in the trees. The boy fell to the ground, and had all the air knocked out of him when the Hyuga girl landed on his chest. The Inuzuka landed safely, but was filled with pain as his pup landed on his most precious place.

"Kaoru! Watch where you're landing!" Came the pained voice of the feral child.

"Sakumo, Konohamaru, get up!" Hanabi whisper/yelled at them.

"Right."

They had found enough time to plan a strategy, and took up positions around the clearing. Of course the brash Sarutobi lead the charge, bursting from the trees he threw a barrage of kunai at the blond, who simply deflected them with his own. Konohamaru smirked when one kunai dug into the tree behind the Namikaze, causing Naruto to look at him with curiosity.

Of course the jounin had noticed the explosive tag attached to the kunai, but ignored it, intending to see what their plan was. Suddenly, the blast rocked the clearing, and for a moment Konohamaru was worried he had killed his sensei, as the blond had disappeared.

He flickered behind the genin, intent on still giving him a chance. "Usually I'd say, second test: Genjutsu. Unfortunately I'm useless at that, so I'm gonna let you go this time. He grinned at the boy as he turned around, and launched him away with a kick, sending him careening into the Hyuga who had just left the tree line.

"Kono-!" She yelled, but was cut off as the larger boy hit her. It wasn't hard, but definitely enough to send them both tumbling.

"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." Naruto stated cooly, his voice ringing out over the clearing. "We haven't got all day, but go back in the trees and I will wait. I want to see what you guys can come up with." He wanted to see what they were capable of doing with their minds. He knew that a shinobi could have all the power in the world, but without the proper ability to strategize in the moment, it would be useless. If the team made no progress today, he would have to start from the very basics, instead of where Ebisu may have left off.

After about twenty minutes, the blond noticed their locations shifting. "_So it's time." _He thought. "_Alright let's see what you've got."_ Naruto was flabbergasted when the ground before him burst away, and the Inuzuka's dog burst from the ground, spinning at a rapid rate. "_Hm, I guess I spaced the dog. A four man team then." _He easily sidestepped the attack, his natural speed completely outclassing the puppy's.

He turned to catch the dog, but was forced to dodge again, as Sakumo barreled toward him. They'd managed to get him to ignore them for a split second, whether it was intentional or not. He reached out, and stopped the boy mid spin by the leg, which blew the boy's mind. He swung the boy around, intent on hitting Konohamaru who he had noticed made it in close. As the boy impacted his friend, the female of their team came decently close to actually laying a finger on the blond. She made for a palm strike to his calf, but was sent to the ground when he swept her leg out from under her.

By then, their plan actually managed to come into play. Konohamaru managed to let out a cloud of ash as Sakumo grabbed him and jump away. At the same time, the small pup managed to yank away Hanabi. As soon as their teammate was clear, Kono clicked his teeth, and set off the blast cloud. Hanabi, due to her eyes, barely caught a glimpse of the kunai that rocketed out of the cloud as it was set off. Therefore; she managed to warn her team.

They caught sight of the blade stabbing into the wood of a tree, and were surprised at the flash of yellow that Naruto appeared in. They knew he was fast, but seeing it was still impressive. He smiled at them, but was surprised himself when the entire treeline of the clearing lit up with explosive tags. "_They had the dog plant them?" _Naruto thought in surprise. Sakumo had a smile on his face as Naruto saw the boy's hand come apart after having set off the tags. The blast went off, and Naruto teleported back to the center.

"Wha-!" Came the surprised voice of Sakumo as Naruto appeared beside him.

"Mediocre. Third test: Taijutsu." He said, leaping away from them. "No teleports, nothing funny. Just come at me and show me what you got."

At this the, feral boy leapt into action, his companion meeting him in the air as they barreled forward with their clan's jutsu. Naruto dodged the combo, sliding around the genin with ease. Before he could do anything however Hanabi leapt into the fold, using her gentle fist, and attempting to strike her new teacher.

Naruto, with his ridiculous speed, caught her by the wrist and flipped her off her feet. As soon as he let her go, it was the Third's grandson who came after him. The young boy launched into the air, attempting to come down with a solid right hook. The jounin smiled in return, and sidestepped the strike, smacking the genin in the head as he passed. "_I hate to rile them up, but it's time to see how they handle stress."_ The blond thought to himself with a sigh. He quickly put on his most uncaring tone, and spoke. "You guys are terrible shinobi. You should have never made genin." He said, spewing a blatant lie. Seeing he hadn't struck a chord, he said something that hurt to say, but he had to see how well these kids could handle their emotions. "I would have thought Ebisu would do better as a teacher, seems he didn't teach you squat."

"What!? How dare you! Ebisu-Sensei was an amazing teacher! He gave his life for us! How dare you insult him big brother Naruto! I thought you were better than this." Konohamaru yelled leaping to his feet.

Sakumo and Hanabi soon joined him, yelling their own collection of obscenities and insults at the blond. He looked at them blankly letting them yell. He had expected better from them, but he understood. Either way it would be helpful for them to let any anger relating to their late sensei out on him. Finally, the three stopped yelling, running out of things to say.

"Well!? Don't you have anything to say for yourself?" Konohamaru asked, his anger showing its teeth.

At this, the blond motioned for the three to follow him. They were angry, but they followed the yellow haired jounin nonetheless. He brought the children to a location he would sometimes visit. Kakashi had taught him a lesson here that he would never forget. The young legendary ninja sighed, and finally spoke. "Here...on this stone, we engrave the names of the heroes of Konohagakure."

"Heroes!? I want my name on that stone then too!" Konohamaru said.

"No… you don't. The names on this stone are of shinobi who had all fallen in the line of duty.

"Oh." The young boy said, shutting up.

"Here lie the names of many great shinobi. All of the Hokages', many legendary nin, including my master; Jiraiya of the Sannin. The Fourth Hokage, my dad. The Third Hokage, your grandfather." He said, ending with his eyes solely on Kono. He then turned to Hanabi. "Your uncle's name is here as well, he made a great sacrifice." Hanabi looked at the ground at this, having a basic understanding of the whole incident. Finally he turned to Sakumo. "Many of your clansmen's names rest on this stone, along with their ninken. Even your namesake: Hatake Sakumo." Naruto said. He had asked the boy's parents, and they had told him they did indeed name their boy after the legendary shinobi.

He reached out, running his fingers over the names of his parents. His hand drifted down the stone, and he ran over Ryuko's name. Once again, his hand drifted and finally settled on Ebisu's. "Your previous Sensei's name is here as well. Ebisu made an ultimate sacrifice for you. I lied when I spoke of him. I have the utmost respect for the man, he was a wonderful sensei. He taught you well, and you all have potential to be splendid shinobi."

"Why would you lie to us sensei?"

"I was seeing how well you could handle stress. I know it sucks, but it is extremely important for a shinobi to stay calm and focused. You didn't handle it well, but I also knew you had some very bottled up emotions inside you over the whole incident. As a shinobi, it's important to let these things out. You're going to kill many enemies. You will kill in the name of your village, your country, and your Hokage. But it's important not to blur the line, and become a sick monster. There are ninja out their who kill innocent people whenever they can, and butcher others for their own gain."

"Is this what it means to be a shinobi?" Asked Sakumo, fear creeping into his voice.

Naruto patted the boy on the head, and crouched down to his level. "No. A shinobi, is one who endures." He stood and smiled. "In this world… those who break the rules are trash." The children's eyes widened, but before they could come up with anything to say, the blond spoke again. "But those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."

The children all stared back at their sensei, stunned by his words. He smiled at them and sat down, unsealing a large lunch. He handed the food out to the kids, and told them to eat. "Congratulations you are now the new Team Seven. Live up to it, alright?"

"Yes sir!" They said cheerfully.

"Now, what I just taught you, it's a lesson you better take to heart." The children smiled and nodded at him while eating. "Alright, eat up quick. We're gonna have another go! You're teamwork is really good, and I want to see what else you can do. I have to know what you've already learned so I know where to start with each of you. I've got a good idea of what you're capable of already, but there's always more to see."

"We're gonna beat you this time Sensei!" Sakumo said.

"Yeah!" Agreed Hanabi.

The Sarutobi boy smiled widely before he spoke. "You're going down boss!"

After a long day of mock battles against their sensei, the children were sent home. Naruto gave them all low rank jutsu scrolls to study, and also started them on the basics teamwork based tactics. He told them all to practice over the next week, and to ask Iruka for help if they needed it. He informed them that he may be gone for a while.

The Namikaze was happy that Konoha didn't need to deploy genin in this war. Well, for now at least. Naruto knew that that fact could change in a day. The jounin had witnessed the massacre of Konohagakure forces when they had been lured into Otogakure after all. The blond man hoped that nothing like that might occur during this war.

In two days time, Konohagakure would go to war with Iwa over the invasion of Takigakure. He would be in the leading forces in the operation to take back Taki. He hoped he wouldn't have to watch any of his comrades die, but he knew the world was a cruel place.

The son of the Fourth was scared. Not fear of battle, or being killed, but scared for the future. He was scared for his country, his village, and his family. He couldn't help but think of his wife, and what the future could hold for them. He would fight for the right for the children of Konohagakure, and the world, to not grow up in war time, like Kakashi-Sensei once had. The blond shinobi laid down with his sleeping wife in bed, and closed his eyes with one final thought. "_I'll protect everyone I can. And I will win this war."_

* * *

_**Heyo, sorry for the wait. Anyway, I enjoyed writing this chapter, and hope you all enjoy reading it. Let me know what you think! Thank you all for reading, and I hope you'll check in for the next chapter. Darling in the Fox out.**_


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter Twenty Nine**

_**I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, I'd have more cars.**_

_**Heyo welcome back AGAIN to me story. Anyone watching Fire Force? I enjoy it. Anyway, hope y'all checked out those pictures of my Naruto! Welp, here's the story, enjoy.**_

* * *

The sun shone brightly through the window beside Naruto's bed, stirring the blond from his sleep. He sat up, and groggily looked over at the sleeping form of his wife. A grin split his face, as he remembered that after a quick one day visit with the Daimyo, he and Rikka had gone on a date. With the operation to take back Takigakure soon, they decided it would be good to spend time together. That said, in the throws of passion, they had broken in the new bed sheets the bluenette had recently purchased.

The jounin made his way out of bed, and formed a shadow clone to prep his gear. He and Rikka had been lucky to get time together, as the operation was pushed back a day to account for more Konoha shinobi coming back to the village to stand guard while the strike force was gone. The strike force consisted of four battalions, which in total was around two thousand shinobi. The battalions were made up of mostly chunin, with a fair number of jounin throughout to lead them.

He was pleased when he found out that not only would Rikka be in Kakashi's battalion, she was actually in his squad as well. This put to rest any worries he had about his wife being wounded in the battle. This was not to say Naruto wasn't confident in his wife's abilities, he just worried either way. She was a frontline fighter after all, her skill in Fire Style ninjutsu was staggering. Kakashi himself said she may have the strongest fire chakra affinity he'd ever seen.

The Nine Tails' jinchuriki sighed as he began making breakfast. He wouldn't be fighting with the main force. He would be leading a platoon of ANBU, but he would not be donning a mask, not that one could even hide his bright blond hair. His objective was to reach the main village, and garrison the mission center. (Pretty much a Hokage tower, but not for a kage.) while this took place, the strike force would battle the enemy throughout the country. Sasuke would also be leading a platoon of ANBU, and would be linking up with his own at some point.

Before the invasion, some of Takigakure's ninja killed a rogue Konoha nin by the name of Rokusho Aoi. This man had stolen an important weapon from the village: the Raijin no Ken, or the Sword of the Thunder God. It was sealed away, but before it could be returned to Konohagakure, Iwa had attacked. Once Naruto's ANBU had secured the mission center, Naruto would retrieve the sword, and return it to Konohagakure. The sword that had once belonged to Senju Tobirama was not something they wanted to possibly make its way from Iwa to Kumo.

Luckily for the people of Takigakure, many of their shinobi had fought a retreating battle as they left the village. By doing this, they managed to keep most of the fighting outside of their village. It was Naruto's platoons' job to clear the village with minimal damage and civilian casualties. To top things off, the jounin commander of Taki (the leader of a minor village) had survived and managed to retreat to Fire Country with his forces.

All in all, if things went in Konohagakure's favor, Taki would quickly be rid of Iwa forces. Worse case scenario, Han and Roshi would show up, in which case Naruto was to immediately meet up and engage them. If it came down to it the rest of his original genin team would join him.

The minute this operation began, the war would be on. Thus, Konohagakure had sent plenty of shinobi to the border of the Land of Hot Water. In the last wars, Kumo had made use of boats and water walking to transport their nin and supplies into the Land of Bones. (Country where the mountain graveyard sits.) This time, while the Land of Frost had always been allies with Kumo, it seemed they would invade the Land of Hot Water. Considering Iwa's move to grab up land, and the fact that Kumo had already been poking around, it could be argued that they would start by invading the minor nation. They would most likely march straight through their allies' country, and into the Land of Hot Water.

Konohagakure would be fighting a multi front war, just like the last ones. Kumo had been rapidly increasing its forces since the Hyuga incident, and that meant that they could very well have quite a manpower advantage. That said, they may even come through the Land of Bones just to get two entry points into the Land of Fire.

In Konohagakure's advantage however; once they pushed Iwa out of Taki, they would likely only face off with them in Kusagakure, and Kusa would be ready. The Iwa front would also be significantly held down by Sunagakure's forces. Gaara would surely do his utmost to keep Iwa focused on defending against his village, instead of going after Konohagakure. At least until Konoha could knock one of the two opposing nations into submission.

Finally, the already once considered Hokage candidate was ripped from his focused thoughts by two slender arms wrapping around him. He smiled as he was broken from his trance, and enjoyed the feeling of his wife's perfect chest pressing against his back.

"You're going to burn the toast." She said blankly with her face pressed into his back.

"Oh! I almost forgot about it!" He said, frantically reaching over and turning off the toaster. (It had broken the day before, and would stay on until turned off.) He still just hadn't had time to get a new one. "Actually, why do we even have a toaster dear? You could literally toast bread in your hands at any time."

She smiled at his words and released him. The woman pushed him slightly aside and took out the toast. With a blank tone she replied as she began buttering the crisped bread. "Are you stupid? Because no guest would ever want their toast cooked in my bare hands. Plus, it's a bad practice to use Fire Style in the home. Haven't you heard the old tale passed down from the Sarutobi clan?"

Naruto had long gotten used to her asking him if he was stupid. It was almost more of a verbal tic of her own than it was an actual insult. "Ah yes, the one of the man who tried to cook a whole meal with his jutsu, but ended up burning down the building?" He questioned after raking his mind for the memories of the story.

"That's the one." The bluenette replied.

"Hmm, I'd say that's a fair point then." The male Namikaze replied, content with his wife's explanation.

He could almost hear the smile in her response. "I knew you'd see it my way." After all the time they'd spent together, her blank and static tone of voice had started to show more and more emotion when she was around him. Sometimes, the villagers who'd known her would be shocked when they went out into the village. He would take her someplace, and if he managed to get her excited, she sometimes had quite the outburst of emotion.

"You're wise beyond your years love." He said almost sarcastically.

"Oh? Have you been doubting me darling?" She said in mock hurt. That was another thing, when she wanted to fake any sort of emotion; she was very good at it. The blond figured it was due to many years of observing and not consistently participating.

Just then, he saw the eggs were finished, and moved the pan to a separate burner. He quickly turned off the stove, and as soon as he saw her put the toast down, he grabbed the woman. Her world spun as her husband twirled her around in his arms. His lips impacted her's, and he lifted her up. She found herself sitting on the counter opposite of the stove, with her brain tuning out everything but the affection she felt from her lover.

Naruto soon pulled away and set her back on her feet. As he did, she moaned in disappointment at the loss of the feeling of his lips. "The eggs will get cold dear." He stared with a smile. The pair then sat down and ate their breakfast, talking about different things that had gone on in the village, and chatting about their meeting with the Daimyo. After sometime, the blond gained a look that conveyed that he was deep in thought.

"What is it Naru?" The bluenette inquired.

"Well, I've been thinking-.." The man started.

"That's a shocker." She joked, cutting him off.

"Ha ha." He deadpanned. "Very funny. Anyway, you have an extremely strong affinity for fire. Do you have any other nature affinities?"

"Actually, no I don't. Just an extremely potent fire affinity. Why?" The woman informed him. At this point, she was curious where he planned to go with this.

"Hmm… if you trained hard to learn wind style, couldn't you form a bastardized version of the scorch release?" He said, his eyes narrowing in thought.

"Actually I did train to gain hold of wind style, even though I don't have it naturally. So in theory, yes probably. Again I ask though, why?" She had a feeling she knew where he was going with this.

"Well I want you to be as strong as possible for this war. And I think it would be worth it for you to be able to mess with it and make your own jutsu." The second yellow flash replied.

"Ah I see. Yes I suppose I could do it." The woman responded, resigning herself to Naruto's idea.

"Rikka… you know you have fairly high chakra reserves right?" He questioned.

"Well yes. With the amount of high level fire jutsu I throw around in combat, I have to." She responded before throwing back her own question. "Why?"

"Well your reserves are higher than even Kakashi-Sensei's. Thus, if you're willing to work hard today, and borrow some of my chakra, you can make a technique overnight." He said with a cocky grin.

"What do you suggest?" Her eyes narrowed in supspicion at her sometimes goofy husband.

"I'm going to teach you shadow clone jutsu." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms as he spoke.

She recoiled in mild surprise before responding. "Oh?"

"Yeah. So, are you on board?" The man asked.

With a shrug, his lover replied. "I suppose."

"Alright." The man said. "Let's go get dressed."

* * *

Twelve hours later found Namikaze Rikka breathing heavily. Her clothes were charred and burned in many places, and she had quite a few burns on her skin that she would need Sakura to take care of before the day was over. She looked over at her lover, who smiled at her. "Good job, now we know you can use it in combat." One hundred shadow clones, all training for twelve hours, was a lot. It was extremely taxing on her brain, and had no doubt caused a small amount of harm. On the bright side however, this was a one time thing. Naruto told her she wasn't to ever train like this again. The only reason he had her do it was that the war started _tomorrow_.

"Thanks." She said, her breathing beginning to steady.

"Let's see it one more time."

"Right." She said, then the woman sped through hand signs, and called out her new technique that she and her husband had developed entirely that day. "Scorch Release: Scorch Phoenix!" As she called this out, her body was enveloped by a cloak of scorching hot flames. "Yup, it's perfect. I don't even get burnt anymore."

"Good! I'm very proud of you Rikka." The woman's new technique made her an extremely dangerous taijutsu fighter now, and any fire techniques she used would be enhanced by the flames already surrounding her. The only downside was that it was fairly taxing on her chakra reserves. The woman would first envelope her body in a very strong and thick coating of wind chakra. The way it surrounded her was almost like the Nine Tails' chakra cloak, albeit without the tails. Immediately after it surrounded her, she would light it ablaze with her fire chakra. This cloak was almost like a fire version of the Raikage's legendary lightning cloak. It was to be her trump card in battle, and Naruto had no doubt it would help keep her safe. At times, the flames burned so hot they were able to melt kunai on contact.

His lover soon let her cloak fade away, and smiled tiredly at him. "Can you take me to see Sakura?"

"Yes, yes I can." He wrapped his arms around his wife, and flashed into existence outside Sasuke's home.

"Naru, this is Sasuke's house."

"I know, they're having dinner together."

"How did you know she was here?" She asked, before answering her own question. "Oh right, you're a sensor."

The blond lightly knocked on the door of the home, and only a minute later they were greeted with the view of a very relaxed Uchiha Sasuke. "Oh, hey Naruto." He greeted, before taking in Rikka's appearance. The bluenette held her usual blank look on her face as she leaned against her husband. "Jeez, what happened to you?"

"I can explain, but could Sakura look at her?"

"Sure, I don't see why not. Go get settled on the couch." The raven haired man said, opening the door all the way and moving aside. Naruto had spent more than enough time at the Uchiha's home in the past month, preparing for the once possible, but now guaranteed outbreak of war. The Uchiha had sold away the land of his once proud compound, and had decided that if he was to rebuild his clan, they would live amongst the villagers as equals instead of an outside clan. As the married couple walked past him, he yelled down the hallway to his kitchen. "Sakura! Naruto and Rikka need to see you!"

"Naruto and Rikka? I'll be right there!" She yelled back. Soon she arrived in the room, and got to work on the female Namikaze. Meanwhile, Naruto explained Rikka's new technique to his former teammates.

"It's a wonder she didn't incinerate herself." Sakura said.

"Agreed, if she'd have lost control of the wind chakra in full then she would have been cooked." Sasuke said, remembering the heat of some of he and Naruto's combination jutsu.

"That's why I was there, with the Nine Tails' constantly healing me, I was able to bare with the heat any time the fire took full control, and lend my wind chakra to her as well." The cloak of wind the woman created around herself not only boosted the heat and potency of the flames, but it was what kept her safe from being cooked alive. Naruto being a sensor, was able to closely replicate the flow of her wind chakra to allow him to add his own. Thus, if it looked as if she would lose control, the blond would either put her back on track, or in bad cases, he would overpower her fire with a massive amount of wind. Usually so much that it blew the flames away from her body entirely.

"Ah I see. Well that makes sense. Anyway, let me check your hands as well." Sakura replied.

"Why? I just told you-..."

He was cut off as his pink haired teammate gave him a glare. "Knowing you, it's still a good idea to check. You and Sasuke are too stupid to know when you have minor injuries, and even those can cause problems down the line. Also, I have to scold you for doing this kind of training right before the start of our invasion."

"I know, I know, but I wanted to make sure Rikka had a trump card incase something went wrong."

"Well, that's fair." Sasuke commented.

After a short chat between the four friends, Naruto and Rikka took their leave. All four had an early morning tomorrow. Himself and Sasuke's ANBU platoons would be in Taki before dawn, and they would be leaving Konoha shortly after midnight. The main strike force would be hitting the Takigakure border around first light. Thus, the still newly wedded couple were in bed by eight.

* * *

Naruto kissed Rikka goodbye as he moved to leave the house. The woman was currently double checking her gear, as she would be leaving in the next couple hours as well. "I love you."

"I love you too, Naruto. Come back to me." She said with a smile.

"I always do. Stay safe love." He replied before sliding out the door. In mere seconds the man crossed the distance of the village and was at the gates. The platoon of ANBU flickered into existence in front of him, all on one knee.

"Captain Namikaze, we're ready when you are." Said one ANBU.

"Well, let's not waste any time." The blond replied, turning and disappearing into the forest, the platoon quickly following suit. The group was inside the borders of Waterfall Country by four in the morning, and were steadily making their way toward the village. They breached through the underground caves, and killed off the Iwa guards.

When the group came to the opening that lead to the village, Naruto held his hand up and signaled for the group to hold. The jounin crouched and placed his finger on the ground, and stretched his chakra around the village. "Looks like we're dealing with about a battalion of Iwa nin. They're spread out around the village, but there's about a company guarding our target. With any luck, they haven't found out about the sword yet." The blond stated, standing to his full height. "Alright then, separate into squads. Divide and conquer. Three of you come with me."

"Yes sir!" The ANBU replied. The platoon quickly split into groups, and each squad began making their way into the village in different directions. Three figures stood behind the tall man, still awaiting his orders.

The jounin made a gesture with his hand, and the four of them disappeared, body flickering into the village. They quickly carved a war path through Taki, heading straight for the mission center. With the chaos ripping down the village, many of the Iwa nin on the outskirts of the village moved to support their allies. As soon as their attention shifted, they were ambushed by the separate ANBU squads Naruto had sent out.

The Iwa Commander was ripped from his concentration when a tri-pronged kunai burst through the window and pierced the wall in front of him. The man quickly reached for the radio, attempting to warn his superiors. His attempts to call out were silenced as another kunai impacted his side just after Naruto appeared in the room. He flashed again to the blade inside the man's ribs, and appeared on his back, plunging a kunai into the base of his neck, severing the ninja's spine.

The blond jounin collected his kunai quickly, and took a moment to congratulate himself and his platoon. They had managed to breach an enemy controlled village and kill the commander within minutes of first contact, and before he could send a radio distress signal. He knew not to be naive however; the enemy would definitely have more security. Somewhere out there were most likely sensors, or forward observers who had seen the assault and would report back to their superiors.

"Now let's find that scroll." Naruto said, cutting away at the wall. He could have taken the time to gently remove the cover, but it was a long process, and his mission objective was clear. Once the wall was out of his way, the Namikaze was greeted with the sight of a fairly sizeable vault door. With a wide grin, he spoke aloud. "Jackpot." He activated the chakra key given to him by Taki's jounin Commander, causing the door to unlock itself. He could have broken through the sealing arrays by himself, but that would have made it so he could not reseal the vault. He looked over the wall of lock boxes, which were each locked with separate chakra keys. He pulled out the second key he'd been given, and opened one of the smaller ones. Inside sat his objective. He pulled out the scroll, and at that moment one of the three ANBU he'd brought with him entered the office.

"Sir." The shinobi said. "Are you finished?"

"Quite. Can you fix this wall? Like, a perfect copy?" The platoon leader inquired.

"Yes. Wood Style: Wood Wall Jutsu!" The man said quietly but with the intensity most shinobi had when they executed a technique. The wood grew in place of the old wooden wall, Tenzo's chakra forming it to match the rest of the wall.

"Heh, looks like they'll need to rip that one down before they can put up a new removable one." The teleportation expert joked. "Let's go Tenzo."

"Sir, you're not supposed to use that name. I've been rebranded as Yamato." The ANBU said.

"Ah, but Kakashi says you should get used to it. Eventually you'll have to come out of ANBU y'know." The blond retorted. "Anyway, I need to get this back to friendly lines. Hold out until then alright? I'll be back in an hour tops." The blond said absentmindedly twirling a kunai around his finger.

"Understood." The wood user replied.

"Good luck, Tenzo. I'll be back in a flash." The Namikaze said, and as soon as he finished the last word, a flash of yellow filled the room, and he was gone.

* * *

As the blond sped through Waterfall Country, he realized he was close to the home of the old man who had helped team Ebisu. He smiled, knowing he had some extra money on him. He figured it would take all of two seconds to drop off a gift to the family.

He changed course slightly, and quickened his pace. If he was going to detour from his mission, he would at least be fast enough to make up for it. He burst through the trees into the farmland of the man's home, and had been immediately assaulted by the smell of smoke and decay. He came to a stop in front of the home, and for the first time in a while, the Namikaze shed a tear.

A sad scene played out before the shinobi, reinforcing the harshness of the world he occupied. The home sat charred and burned, the roof having collapsed in on itself. He could smell the burn flesh wafting out of the home. What saddened him the most was that he knew no one escaped. Every exit to the home, all the windows and both doors were sealed shut but rock walls that jutted out of the ground. "They didn't deserve this." He said quietly, while holding back his rage. "You Iwa bastards…" His fists shook at his side, and his teeth clenched. The man took a few deep breaths before shaking his head. "_If I ever find you, I'll kill you. This world has no room for humans who act like animals." _The blond leapt to the trees once again, after saying a prayer for the late family.

* * *

"Congratulations on a complete mission." Said Shikaku. The jounin Commander and other strong ninja had met him at the border to retrieve the scroll. "Good luck, Naruto."

"Thank you Shikaku. There's a war to be fought, and I intend to fight it." The teleporter responded. With that, the spiky haired Nara pocketed the scroll and watched in amusement as his comrade disappeared in a flash of yellow.

* * *

Unfortunately for Naruto's ANBU platoon, only minutes after the jounin left they were attacked by Iwa reinforcements. They fought from the mission center, using it as cover to fire off jutsu and kunai. Any enemies that managed to get close were dispatched by the blades of swords and kunai alike.

The platoon finally had a crack formed in their resolve however; when three full companies of Iwa nin descended upon their garrison. They fought valiantly, and managed to take out an entire company. Tenzo had been forced to go all out, draining his chakra further than ever before as he ripped apart the streets of Takigakure with his Wood Style techniques. Finally the remaining companies of Iwa nin withdrew, to collaborate in the largest Earth Style Jutsu he'd ever seen.

They all slammed their palms into the ground, spikes ripped up from the earth, a massive forest of them coming at the Konoha shinobi at a ridiculously fast pace. They ripped through streets and buildings alike, and the ANBU were sure they couldn't outrun it, let alone stop it. Just as Tenzo resigned himself to his fate, a voice ripped through the air, accompanied by the familiar chirping of birds.

"Chidori Impact!" The Uchiha called out as he burned the blade of his sword into the ground. Lightning split through the earth, tearing up the ground as if Sakura herself had punched it. When the earth techniques inevitably clashed with the current of electricity, Sasuke's over charged Chidori won out. With earth jutsu being weak to lightning, Uchiha Sasuke was the worst match up the super combo jutsu could ever encounter. Well, other than the Raikage of course, but he sided with Iwa.

The rest of Sasuke's platoon showed up at that moment, landing in a defensive perimeter around the absent Namikaze's garrison. A few of the Iwa ninja recoiled in fear shocked at his arrival.

"No, it can't be! Sasuke of the Lightning Style!?"

"No it's the second coming of Shisui of the Body Flicker!"

"Well, he's not alone. Tenzo, we were supposed to cause minimal damage to the village y'know. Look what you did y'know." Came a familiar voice from the rubble behind the enemy companies. Naruto stepped out from a ruined building, absentmindedly twirling a kunai around his finger.

"No! You! You're...you're Konoha's second Yellow Flash!"

"Look, surrender now, and none of you will have to die." Sasuke said loudly. The jounin presence of both the Uchiha and the Namikaze put unwinnable odds in the hands of the Iwagakure shinobi. On one hand, they could try to escape, most likely losing at least half of their force. On the other, they could stand and fight, and most likely be killed. Or, they could take the easy road and surrender.

"The rest of our forces are battling their way here at this very moment, you don't really have a chance here." The blond jounin said. The ANBU encroached on the enemy, intent on subduing them if they did choose to surrender.

Just as it looked like they might give in, one man's bravery, or maybe it was foolishness, had the entire group reignite the battle. The man leapt forward quickly drawing his blade and railing it through the nearest Konoha ANBU. With a roar, he called out, "die you tree hugging scum!" He was however; silenced as the ANBU he had stabbed turned into a log and appeared behind him, shoving his blade into the nin's neck.

Like sharks after blood hits the water, the Iwa shinobi responded in a frenzy. They stuck out, attacking any of the Konoha shinobi that were close. They even managed to bring down a few of the ANBU who had been too close at the start. The black and blond haired jounins soon dove into the fray as well, trying to protect their comrades.

"Let's show them, Naruto!" Sasuke called out with a smirk as lightning sparked down his blade.

"Right!" Naruto called back. If they wanted a fight, they'd give them one. He jumped high into the air, and launched a barrage of his famous kunai into the battle. A sad and doubtful thought crept into the back of his mind, but his focus was on the battle. "_It's less of a fight and more of a slaughter… they're defenseless to Sasuke and I… just like Ryuko was to Han." _His shinobi training and his commitment to preserving the lives of those under his command pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

Suddenly, the ridiculously torn apart main street of Taki was filled with rapid yellow and blue flashes. The yellow happened at a much quicker pace, and the blue were long and sustained. Naruto flashed between enemies, slamming kunai into their vitals with ease. The Uchiha's sword would light up, slashing men in half, and sometimes bolts of lightning would fire from the swords tip. The ANBU also participated, but with their speed Naruto and Sasuke did most of the work.

Quickly, the fighting stopped, the dust settled, and the shinobi relaxed. Blood and bodies littered the main street of Takigakure, an image that would be forever scarred into the minds of not only Naruto and Sasuke, but Iwa's forward observers as well. The best friends would never forget the awful stench of nearly one hundred dead or disemboweled shinobi. They ordered the ANBU to seek out any survivors, and joined in as well. The Konohagakure shinobi mercy killed anyone beyond saving, but anyone who could possibly make a recovery had their wounds tended to immediately.

While the others patched up the survivors who would live, Naruto simultaneously placed high level chakra blocking seals. They could be healed just fine, but if they themselves tried to mold chakra, it either wouldn't work, or if they managed to force it through, they would simply die.

When Konohagakure's main force arrived, Takigakure was devoid of any combat capable Iwa shinobi. Some of the main force stopped to help guard Taki, and any Taki nin who had participated in the opening act of the war began to clean up their village.

* * *

Throughout the night, Naruto, Sasuke, and their ANBU held back a few half hearted counter attacks. Meanwhile, the main force continued on, attempting to put Iwa on a full retreat.

The next morning, Naruto rose slowly, but when a radio nin showed up, he got worrying news. (Radio nin! My own creation! So, I know radios are kinda canon, but for purposes of this story and my fourth shinobi world war, radios will be like that of the actual radios used by the US in the real world Second World War. Look them up if you'd like to know what I'm talking about. They require someone to strap the big ass thing to their back to be mobile.)

"Sir! I've got a message for you!"

"Let's hear it." Naruto said with a commanding tone.

"Sir, Commander Hatake has requested your assistance with his battle group. They've encountered heavy resistance, and he said he needed you there. He also mentioned something about Jounin Namikaze." The nin reported.

"Fuck! Did he say anything else?" Naruto said, pushing the panic that rose within him back down.

"No sir."

"Thank you, radio back, tell him three minutes tops." Naruto commanded turning his back to the shinobi and waving for Sasuke, who was one a rooftop across the way from him to come over.

"Understood sir!"

"Naruto what's up?" Questioned the Uchiha.

"You'll have to hold out here. Kakashi and Rikka need my help. Keep my platoon here, and carry out our original orders." Naruto said quickly.

"Hn. Who made you boss? But I understand, I'll handle things here. Go get your girl, and save that pervert."

"Later S'ke. Don't die." Naruto said walking away.

"Hn. You too Namikaze." The Uchiha said, crossing his arms with an uncaring look.

"Like hell I would." The blond replied. He walked toward the edge of the roof, and held out his hand above his head before giving his best friend a thumbs up. As soon as he hit the edge, he took a step and disappeared in a flash of yellow.

* * *

Rikka scorched the vitals of the nin in front of her. When she had jabbed a kunai into his gut, and ignited her scorch style, he was done for. Lucky for him, she still had compassion for those she killed, and it was not a slow death. She fried him from the inside out so quickly he most likely barely felt it.

Another Iwa nin appeared behind her, throwing a hail of shuriken at her back. The flames engulfing the female burned even hotter, melting the ninja tools as soon as they touched. "Scorch Style: Solar Flare!" She yelled after moving through hand seals. A large part of her cloak flared up, before bursting off of her body. And igniting not only the Iwa shinobi, but the surrounding forest as well.

As the flames burned around her, she was brutally smacked to the side. Seconds away from hitting a large tree, she felt herself stop gently. The familiar warmth spread through her body as she realized her husband had arrived. "Naruto? What are you doing here?" She questioned. He said nothing as he landed, still carrying his wife bridal style. She watched in curiosity as he held her tightly and cast a glare over his shoulder at her attacker. Not once had she seen such a cold look in the eyes of her lover.

"I'll be back for you, Han." With that, the blond tossed a kunai into the air. He flashed away, appeared beside Kakashi. "Sensei. Watch after her, I'll handle the jinchuriki."

"Right. Be careful Naruto." The masked jounin said as the blond set his wife back on her feet. Before she could ask what they meant by jinchuriki, the blond kissed her deeply, before disappearing once again.

"What do you mean jinchuriki? Is one of Iwa's jinchuriki here? Is he going to fight them alone?"

"Yes He is. You know Naruto is stronger than all of us at this point Rikka. The only one who can go toe to toe with a jinchuriki is either himself, Sasuke, or me. I have to keep commanding this unit, and Sasuke has to oversee defense of the village."

She cast a worried look to the area where she had ignited a forest fire, knowing her husband was fighting alone in that raging inferno. Kakashi caught her attention once more, and she ignited her cloak. She leapt back into the fray with her comrades, intent on doing her share of the fighting. The quicker she finished up here, the sooner they could help Naruto.

* * *

Han watched as the kunai was caught in the hand of the yellow flash before it could hit the ground. It was one on one now, and Han knew only one of them would leave the burning forest alive.

"You almost hurt my wife. I'll kill you this time Han." Naruto said, glaring at his nemesis with enough intensity to light the man ablaze.

"You'll die here, Nidaime Kiiroi Senko."

* * *

_**Whew, that's a wrap. Nidaime Kiiroi Senko means Second yellow flash. Exciting things coming next chapter, so please stay tuned! Thanks for reading guys! Darling in the Fox out!**_


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter Thirty**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, I'd have money to investigate missing 411.**

**Welcome back, got something special in store for ya in this chapter! **

**Dear DbzpreteenGohanfan87: I sincerely appreciate all the reviews you've written. I'm glad you like this story, and I'm very glad you took the time to write such long reviews. It makes me very happy to see you and others enjoy this so much. It's my first fanfic, so it means a lot.**

* * *

"You'll die here, Nidaime Kiiroi Senko." The bulky jinchuriki retorted.

"Like hell. Let's end this feud now Han. You won't walk away this time." Naruto said, his focus solely on the enemy. Both shinobi ignored the blaze that had engulfed the forest around them. The fire roared, and trees cracked and collapsed as they burned. The scene played out a dramatic backdrop for the coming battle.

Naruto leapt back, quickly peppering the edges of the tree line where the fires were weakest with his kunai. The enemy container began to let out large amounts of steam, and it slowly engulfed his body. "I created this just for you Namikaze. You won't be able to touch me." The steam created a scalding hot film around his body, and anything that touched it would no doubt be severely burned.

Naruto said nothing as he watched his opponent. The bulky man grew impatient, and quickly launched himself at his enemy. As he came, Naruto flicked a kunai at him. He dodged, knowing the blond wouldn't be able to attack him. His thoughts were blown to the side however, when Naruto's foot collided with his ribs, and he felt the distinct feeling of water splashing onto the affected area. The blond had wrapped his foot in a coating of cold water to help counter the steam's effects. And now, he knew it worked.

The red clad man caught himself quickly, turning fast to attack the Konoha nin. The jounin formed a Rasengan, and made it fairly large. As Han closed in, he intentionally let it destabilize, causing it to explode outward in a blast of pressure. The resulting attack launched the armored man backwards, his body impacting one of the charred trees. He stood quickly, only to encounter Naruto slamming a kunai down where his head was. Barely managing to dodge the strike, the man rolled away, distancing himself from the enemy jinchuriki.

Immediately, the younger man was on top of him slicing at the larger nin with his kunai. The man dodged a few of the strikes, but Naruto's natural speed out did his own by a long shot. If it weren't for his steam, the Namikaze surely would have ended him. When Han had fought alongside Roshi, he'd had a strong ally. Now he was alone, and he was being pressed by the blond jinchuriki.

Naruto spun around with another kick, but his leg was caught by Han. He dropped the kunai he held and flashed to it, putting himself behind the large man. He swung out with his blade, channeling wind chakra into the knife. He cut deep into the Iwa shinobi's side, enough to make the man stagger. Once he had his enemy on the back pedal, he shot toward him, coating his hand in a large amount of wind chakra. "_If I can mark him, this is over." _His hand was close now, mere inches away and he was confident he would end the fight soon.

His palm hit the steam, the wind keeping him from being burnt by the hot air. The tip of his finger touched the man, and his senses were overloaded. He was blasted away by a huge release of chakra as the enemy went into his three tailed state. Han knew he couldn't fight the Yellow Flash in his base form.

It was a well known fact between Iwa and Kumo, that the second Yellow Flash had almost no control of his tailed beast. This was a weakness the enemy nations strategists intended to use to their advantage. While Killer Bee and Yugito were the only jinchuriki capable of entering a full tailed beast transformation, Han and Roshi still had recently gotten a fair grasp of the higher level jinchuriki forms.

As the jounin stared in deep thought, the bulky jinchuriki drew out a fourth tail. The beast featuring four horns emerging from its head, and a dense red skin formed over the jinchuriki. He watched as chakra pooled into a ball in front of the enemy, before the beast suddenly ate it. He'd never seen a tailed beast bomb before, and he was in for a shock. The destructive attack launched from the mouth of the monster, and Naruto quickly flashed behind it.

The blond's eyes widened as the chunk of ground he'd inhabited, and the forest around it, was blown away. "_Dad fought this...but all out… he fought the Nine Tails at full power… incredible." _He thought to himself. He quickly performed a set of hand signs, before throwing a kunai at the enemy. "Shuriken Shadow Clone!" The blade duplicated to a massive number, and the Yellow Flash made use of his signature technique. He flashed about the kunai, slamming Rasengans into the transformed shinobi and battering him all over the battlefield.

He slammed a foot into the abdomen of the man, sending him flying, but discovering the corrosive effects a tailed beasts chakra had. However; due to his own, the effects were quickly alleviated. "_Damnit, that still stung." _He thought, putting distance between himself and the man he had just kicked. At that moment, Han began using the version two's speed to great effect. Naruto was forced to dodge at rapid rates, and in some cases even flash away.

The jounin stepped forward, launching at the beast. He threw a kunai with a tag on it, and when it went off, the battlefield was bathed in bright light. The Namikaze peeled his eyes open seconds later, and seeing his enemy had turned around in it's blinded state, he pressed his advantage. He came upon the enemy fast, pulling out a suppression seal. Just as he reached the beast however; it spun around. The blond's eyes widened in shock when the jinchuriki opened his mouth, and launched its deadly attack.

Naruto barely had time to move as the attack hit at point blank. He flashed away, but not before catching a lot of damage from the blast. As he appeared beside his kunai, the force of the explosion threw him from his feet, sending him flying into the burning tree line. The forest around the battlefield was still engulfed in an inferno, and as the jounin hit the trees, he was burned badly.

The blond's eyes slowly opened as he brought himself back from the momentary lapse of consciousness. His eyesight focused just in time to see the enemy flying toward him, claws bared. Naruto waited until the last second, and as the claws touched his flak jacket, he smacked a suppression seal onto the jinchuriki, and flashed away.

The teleporter appeared in the center of the battlefield on his butt. He sat breathing heavily, knowing that the seal wouldn't cut the link between beast and container for too long. He also knew Han would wake soon, and that tailed beast bomb had done a number on the legendary shinobi. He coughed and wheezed as he realized a few of his ribs had broken. He grimaced in pain, and knew that the difficulty breathing was a direct cause of one of said ribs puncturing his lung.

Ignoring the pain, the man leapt to his feet, and forced himself to move, quickly appearing beside Han's currently limp form. He reached down and moved to cut the man's throat. Han stirred at that moment, and grabbed the wrist of his enemy. He tossed the wounded blond away, and the Konoha shinobi rolled to a stop and sat motionless. The red armored man stepped toward his opponent, and channeled chakra to his arm. He intended to crush the skull of Konohagakure's strongest ninja. Naruto disappeared, and reappeared with his feet planted firmly in the back of the bulking jinchuriki. He attempted to bury the blade of his tri-prong deep into the base of the man's skull. He quickly pushed off to give himself distance, and see if he had brought an end to his adversary.

He almost growled when the man once again stood. Unfortunately he'd only been able to shove the kunai into the soft flesh on the side of the man's neck, somehow missing vital points. As Han reached to remove the embedded blade, Naruto quickly took action. He flashed to the kunai, immediately planting his foot in the side of Han's head, launching him across the scared earth. He teleported once again before the man could come to a stop, and planted his fist into the man's gut. He spun a kunai into his palm from his pouch, slashing the man across the chest, channeling wind chakra to cut through the tough armor. Naruto repeated the process, while consistently landing punches and kicks. He finally kicked the man away slightly, before jumping into the air and coming down with a heel drop that connected with the bulking jinchuriki's head.

The student of the Toad Sage wasted no time when his foe fell, flashing to the blade still embedded in the enemy's neck. He appeared straddling his adversary, and lifted his kunai above his head. He channeled wind chakra into it, and brought it down full force into the beaten Iwa nin's chest. As Han let out a raspy gasp, Naruto pulled one arm back, and formed a large Rasengan. With one final move; He blew the head of Han clean apart, and The Jinchuriki of the Steam Release was no more.

Naruto collapsed to his rear, holding himself up with his arms. His raspy breathing filled the clearing as the battlefield went silent. The surrounding forest was slowly burning out, and he could sense Konoha nin hosing down the fires in an attempt to make it through the forest. Waterfall Country had trees large enough in some places to even rival Konohagakure's, so the nin couldn't exactly just go over. With the fire's size, it would be hard to go around as well. He sensed a few nin trying to make their way around, but he could feel Kakashi making quick work in forming a path to get to him.

He lay back and sighed, his ribs were killing him. "_Man… Rikka's gonna be so mad that I got hurt."_ Soon enough, he heard the telltale sizzle of water dousing fire. He painfully rose up, turning his head to the direction of the noise. Out of the trees emerged Kakashi, Rikka, and Sakura, the latter of which had rushed to the front when Kakashi's troops began taking heavy casualties.

"Naruto!" Rikka yelled in fear and worry seeing his battered state. She sprinted toward him, but when she and Sakura reached the blond, she moved up, and placed his head in her lap. Sakura quickly got to work on the wounded blond, and Kakashi watched with a smile.

A few hours passed, and after the arrival of Gai, Genma, and Anko at Takigakure, Sasuke rushed to the frontline. Upon his arrival he was greeted with the sight of Sakura and Kakashi conversing a few feet away from his former teammate. Naruto still looked battered, but unknown to the Uchiha, he was in much better shape than he had been thanks to the pinkette. The blond jounin sat with his head in Rikka's lap as she ran her fingers through his golden hair.

Sasuke made his way to Sakura, checking up on the woman. He found himself worrying more and more about her with their budding relationship. The idea of losing her often caused the man to lose sleep. After a few minutes conversing with his sensei and girlfriend the Sharingan weilder checked up on his friend. He approached the married couple, Rikka raising her eyes to greet him.

"He asleep?" The Uchiha questioned.

"Yes, he was pretty beat up when we got to him." The woman replied with a soft smile.

"Kakashi told me he killed the Iwa jinchuriki. It was the same jinchuriki that killed Ryuko." The man said, turning his gaze to the sky.

Before Rikka could respond, Naruto's voice interrupted their conversation. "I'm probably going to be in the bingo book as S rank soon Sasuke. You better catch up."

"Hn. Seems we woke you. You look like hammered shit Naruto." The last Uchiha said, not dignifying his friend with a response.

"Yeah well, as you know, it's not easy to fight a jinchuriki. He managed to catch me up close with a tailed beast bomb. I was able to flash away and avoid most of the blast, but I wasn't _that_ fast. I've no doubt Flying Raijin could out run the explosion, but I didn't register it until pretty much the moment it went off. He hid it well, and I'm pretty sure he actually took a bit of damage himself just to get that hit on me." The male Namikaze explained.

"Hn. I see." The raven haired jounin commented. After a few moments of thought, he turned his gaze to the sky again before speaking once more. "I wonder where the Five Tails will reform."

"Good question. I don't want to have to reseal it. I'd hate to force one of our shinobi to be a jinchuriki, and I honestly feel like the tailed beasts should not be forced to fight in our wars. I wish they could live on their own. The Sage might have created both us and them, but these are our wars, not theirs." Naruto said. It was something he'd thought of for a long time. After he'd met his father, he'd realized the Nine Tails had been forced into it just as much as he had.

"Hn. You're being soft. But you're right." In a way, the tailed beasts' predicament reminded him of his brother. His brother hadn't wanted to participate in any sort of civil war, but his hand was forced. At least Itachi had been able to choose his own side in a way. The beasts however; had no say.

None of the five shinobi knew, but at that moment deep inside Naruto's mind a creature lifted its head in slight confusion and curiosity. It thought for a while, before reaching its own conclusion. The massive fox slowly set it's head back down on it's paws, and slowly drifted back to sleep. "_**On their own huh?"**_

* * *

Konoha shinobi would continue fighting for the rest of the week, and eventually, Iwa would be completely pushed out of Waterfall Country. With Konohagakure emerging from the first large skirmish of the war victorious, Iwa would be on the backfoot for quite a while. The shinobi of Konoha now had down time to recover before throwing themselves back into the war.

* * *

Five weeks had passed since Konohagakure's victory over Iwa in Waterfall Country. This found Naruto waking up to a strange noise in his home. He strained his tired mind, trying to find out exactly what the noise was.

"Bleagh!" Echoed through the home once again. Naruto sat up quickly realizing his wife was not in bed with him. "Bleh!" Once again sounded, with a series of coughs following it.

"What the hell?" Asked the legendary jounin aloud. He quickly got out of bed and followed the noise to his bathroom. There, he found his wife on her knees, face over the toilet bowl. In moments he was by her side stroking her back. "Rikka, what's wrong? Are you okay?" He asked with worry.

A few coughs came from the woman, trying to clear her throat and mouth. With labored breathing, the woman responded. "Are you stupid? No I'm not okay. I just felt super nauseous out of nowhere."

"Are you sick?" He asked, placing his hand on her forehead. She wasn't overly warm, and he was confused on why she could possibly be throwing up.

"I guess so, but other than this, I don't feel all that bad." She said, letting out a few more coughs.

"Let me take you to see Tsunade." He said, grabbing a small bucket for her, and taking her in his arms.

"Okay." She said tiredly, clutching the bucket. The bathroom was suddenly filled with a yellow flash, and they were gone.

* * *

With a bright flash, the blond and his wife arrived in the Hokage's office. Tsunade recoiled in surprise at the sudden and abrupt arrival. "Damnit Naruto! Couldn't you arrive outside the damn door!"

"Sorry Tsunade, it's kinda urgent." He said with an apologetic smile.

At this moment she addressed the fact that he was carrying Rikka. "What happened?" She questioned. In response, Rikka threw up into the bucket. "Don't puke on my floor, make sure it stays in the bucket. Set her on the couch."

"Yes ma'am." Naruto replied, doing as he was told.

Tsunade began using her medical ninjutsu to diagnose the problem. She stopped suddenly with her palm over Rikka's abdomen. She slowly turned her head to the blond. "Naruto…."

"What?! What's wrong! Is she okay!?" He said, his mind going into a frenzy of worry.

"She's pregnant." Tsunade said flatly.

"Eh? Ehhhh? What!?" The jounin replied in happy shock.

Rikka's head also popped up, looking Tsunade in the eyes. "I'm wha-." She was cut off when she was forced to put her face back over the bucket and throw up.

"Naruto, I'm going to take her and run tests for most of the day, so run along." Tsunade said, pushing the blond out of the room.

Naruto stood shell-shocked in the hallway. He took one step before stopping and looking forward with his eyes wide. "What just happened?" He asked aloud, getting some strange looks from a few passing chunin.

* * *

The pair were found later that night cooking dinner together silently. The Hokage had informed the pair that Rikka was indeed six weeks pregnant. They were both lost in their thoughts, and had barely spoken a word since Tsunade had let the woman go home. The mood of the room however; was so happy and joy filled, that even Sasuke would smile from just walking in.

Rikka stepped away from the counter with a plate, intent on setting the table. She made it two steps before stopping and dropping the plate to the ground. The dish shattered, and a huge grin finally split the female Namikaze's face.

"Naruto…. I'm gonna be a mother!"

The blond stopped what he was doing, and spun around quickly. He smiled widely, and lifted his wife into the air. "I'm gonna be a father y'know!"

"A mother! Me, a mother!" She said in disbelief. They knew they were young, and it was early in their marriage but they loved the idea of a child.

"Ima be a dad y'know!" Naruto was proud. His smile split his face, and his entire presence radiated happiness. With the lack of family they had through their childhood, the pair found the idea of having a real family extremely exciting. "Who do we tell first?"

"Go invite Sasuke and Sakura for dinner. I'll make more for them." The woman said.

"Alright!" The blond said, leaving for the door.

"Grab Kakashi and Iruka as well!" She called out.

"Right!" And with that the blond was gone.

About thirty minutes later, the group of shinobi sat gathered around Naruto's large kitchen table. Other than the Namikazes, everyone in the room was very curious as to what was going on.

"Um…. so.." Rikka felt strange, she'd never been very shy before, and she was unsure why she felt shy. Naruto came from the counter with a large plate of turkey. He set the dish down, and placed his hand on her own. He leaned over her slightly, gave her a smile, and squeezed her hand.

"What Rikka is trying to say... is that she's pregnant."

The jaws of each person at the table almost hit the ground. They stared at the new married couple for a while, before Sakura started gushing at Rikka, asking the blue haired woman all kinds of questions. Meanwhile they ate their dinner, answering questions and talking about the future with their close friends.

"I wanted to tell you all first…. you're the closest thing we have to actual family…" Naruto spoke with a soft smile.

"I'm very happy for you two, but isn't it a little early?" Iruka questioned.

"Well, we weren't trying… it just kind of happened. However; it's a very happy surprise to us… I've dreamed of having my own family for so long…" The blond responded.

"I understand entirely, Naruto." Iruka said with a smile. He had his own budding relationship with surprisingly none other than the one and only Mitarashi Anko. He was very happy for his surrogate son.

"I'm sure you'll make great parents. Hopefully the child won't be as energetic as you were when you were young. Don't you think, Naruto?" Kakashi said with his signature eye smile. The man of one thousand jutsu had been surprised at the idea of one of his students becoming a parent before he himself had even thought about it. He knew Yugao was thinking about it. About two years after the death of her fiance, she had come to her old ANBU captain to talk about him about her loss. Time had been spent together, far more than they had as ANBU. Eventually, the road led to romance.

"I hope so sensei." Naruto said.

* * *

Naruto was found laughing as Konohamaru and Hanabi argued. The Sarutobi was currently arguing with the Hyuga girl about who was the better shinobi. Inuzuka Sakumo sat beside his teacher, smiling at his friends. Naruto had come to find that the feral brown haired boy was very passive, which was quite the oddity among the Inuzuka clan. He preferred to sit on the sidelines if things got too exciting when it came to social interaction. As it turned out, Sakumo was a very close cousin of Kiba's and the blond had promised to look after the young man. Sakumo had come a long way with his ninken, proving the Inuzuka to be a fierce foe in battle.

The other genin were fairly skilled now, and the jounin had confidence in their teamwork. Hanabi had grown strong in the Hyuga arts, and Naruto thought that she was almost as much of a prodigy as Neji. She trained with her elder sister, and her cousin Neji quite often.

Konohamaru had come a long way as well. They Sarutobi had unique mastery over his fire release, one that almost made him think of Rikka's natural mastery of the element. Most notably, through the Sarutobi clan's summoning, he now had his own familiar, a monkey known as Enra.

"Maybe if you weren't such a spoiled brat!"

"Did you just call me a brat SARUTOBI!?"

"What, your eyes are so good that your ears went to shit!?"

"You bastard!" Hanabi yelled, swinging her palm for the boy's chest. In a sentimental way, she reminded Naruto of a very young and prideful Sasuke. The blond jounin quickly appeared between the bickering children. Hanabi found her hand caught by the tall jounin, and was shocked at his natural speed. The three genin had seen his speed before, but they were still shocked every time he showed off.

"Now now Hanabi. Unless you're going to have a real spar with our silly monkey, then I'm going to ask you not to hit him." The man said with a smile. His calm voice caused the hot temper of the young girl to quickly settle, thus she turned almost shy like Hinata had been when she was younger. The girl was either one hundred percent hot temper, or fifty percent a shy mess.

"Ah sensei, it's just because they like each other." Sakumo said, approaching the trio.

"Heh, you're right Sakumo, maybe I should leave the love birds alone." Their sensei said.

At this, the two children leapt back from one another. Fingers pointed at the other, they screamed at the same time. "I could never love her/him!"

"Now now, you're teammates and comrades. You shouldn't be fighting like this, so either put it aside, or you can both spar with me."

Both genin audibly gulped. They knew when their sensei gave them the option of a spar as punishment, they would be brought to their absolute limit. When Naruto used a spar to dish out his discipline, the jounin held back only enough to avoid killing the genin. He made sure they had to help each other to get home, so his lessons wouldn't leave their heads before they got there.

Kakashi had done the same for Team Seven in Naruto's genin days. After a short chat one afternoon about his father, Naruto found out Minato had done the same for the mask wearing jounin in his own genin days. With Kakashi once being a stickler for rules, he rarely had to face that situation. On the rare occasion when he and his friends needed a proper lesson, the kind hearted Fourth Hokage had no quarrels giving them a smack down.

"Yes sir… we understand." The two bickering children said.

"Good. Now, I've got something important to tell you."

"Oh? Is it a S-rank secret or something?" The young Sarutobi questioned.

"No, not quite. However; it is something I'd rather you not go running around the village yelling to everyone about."

"Well what is it?" The scarf wearing boy asked.

"Konohamaru if you'd shut up he'd tell us!" Hanabi snapped.

Naruto simply cleared his throat, and at noticing the implication of the interrupting sound, the genin quickly shut up. "As I was trying to say, I'd like you all to know my wife is now pregnant."

"What!?" Hanabi yelled, her eyes sparkling to life as she remembered the few babies she had held. Hanabi secretly loved babies, and even their crying didn't annoy her. She absolutely adored what she called, "the cutest thing in the world."

"Ew, those loud screaming monsters?" Konohamaru asked.

"Congratulations sensei!" Sakumo said, the ever calm boy he was.

"Thank you Sakumo. Yes, we're having a child. I hope you can all assist me at times in watching over my child. Parenting will be difficult, and with the war going, I'm going to need someone to help watch over Rikka." Naruto said with a smile. He thought it might be fun to include his genin in his child's life. They would likely be able to act as sudo siblings to the yet to be born Namikaze.

"Gladly sensei. Do you have a name decided?"

"No no no." Naruto replied laughing. "It's much too early for that kiddos, but we'll let you know when the time comes. Now, if you guys are free tonight, Rikka would like you all to come for dinner."

The three genin looked at each other and shared a nod, before Hanabi replied. "We'll be there Naruto-Sensei."

"Good." Naruto patted the Hyuga on the head with a smile before speaking again. "I've got to go speak with the Hokage, so I'll see you later." Before the children could reply, Naruto disappeared in a flash. The training field went quiet, and the three genin began training together.

* * *

"What?" The blond questioned from the couch off to the side of the Kage's desk

"Kumo has made a large invasion into the Land of Hot Water, as well as hitting Fire Country through the Land of Bones. Luckily, with Iwa currently occupied with Gaara's forces, we're only facing Kumo on a wider front than the last wars." The Hokage replied, answering the man's question.

"I see. How's our garrison in Hot Water?"

"It's not."

"What?" He asked in confusion.

"Naruto…" she sighed. "The Raikage and his brother showed up in person to take over Hot Water Country. We lost nearly as many shinobi as we did in the Otogakure massacre." The Hokage said softly.

The jounin's fists tightened at his sides, anger coursing through his body. He quickly settled his temper before returning his mind to their conversation. "I see. What's the game plan then?"

"Well, now that's where things get interesting." She said. Before the Namikaze could reply, she turned her head to the door and called out. "Shikamaru, Shikaku, come in please."

Into the office stepped the father and son duo, who were the backbone of Konohagakure's current tactical planning. "Lady Hokage, Naruto." Greeted the eldest Nara.

"Shikamaru, Commander. It's nice to see you." The jounin replied.

"Thank you for coming on time. So, you two said yesterday you'd finalize a plan by morning, correct? I assume our new asset was involved?" Naruto's brow rose at her words, but he held his tongue and did not interrupt.

"Yes Ma'am." Shikamaru said confidently. "If you'd don't mind?" He questioned, pulling out a marker and moving to draw on a war map they'd placed on the wall.

"By all means, walk us through this." She replied with a wave of her hand.

"Right." The Nara said approaching the map. "Now, our biggest threat currently is the fact that the Raikage has taken to the battlefield so early. With him on the front, it will be difficult to push back into Hot Water Country. Our shinobi will have no issue holding out on the border of Bone Country, but the Raikage is the big factor right now." Shikaku explained, as Shikamaru circled countries on the map.

"Now, as much as we'd like to send out Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi to hunt down the Raikage and his brother, killing the Raikage could cause issues. If we kill Ay, it could be detrimental to any future peace talks." Shikamaru said, taking over for his father. "We've concluded that if we are to send jounin Namikaze, Hatake, and Uchiha behind enemy lines with a small force into the Land of Lightning, they could cause enough havoc among the forts and war camps that Kumo has set up to force Ay and Bee to return home."

Shikaku took the reigns once again, and addressed the two blond shinobi. "Once they're confirmed to be back in country, we can lead a large force to push Kumo's forces back into the Land of Frost. With enough havoc caused in Lightning Country, the Raikage should need to stay in his village to handle the chaos."

Naruto smiled at the plan. Avoiding direct confrontation with the Raikage was wise. Although Naruto was optimistic about the idea of himself and/or Sasuke being able to handle the legendary brothers, the Raikage still had _years _of experience on them. On top of that, the Raikage had a better understanding of the Flying Raijin than most ninja, due to facing his father in the last war. Naruto knew in reality he could probably deal with the brothers on his own, but Shikamaru had made an important point. The death of their Raikage could possibly cause the people and shinobi of Kumo to completely ignore any sort of peace talks. Instead, they may favor the idea of revenge against Konohagakure.

"Well… you certainly thought this out well. However; I think Sasuke should either be deployed to the front at the Land of Bones, or the Iwa front in Kusa. We're both strong, and definitely better together, but we need to make sure we have someone who could hold off a strong push. That someone would be Sasuke." The Namikaze said.

"Hmm." Tsunade mused. "I believe Naruto is right, it's dangerous to take all of our strongest jounin off the front. It would certainly leave us open to attack. In that case, Kakashi will stay behind as well, attending to the Iwa front."

Shikamaru and Shikaku looked at each other for a moment before nodding their heads. The two geniuses usually would have thought that factor out, but they had structured the full plan in one night. "We believe our forces are more than capable, that is why we decided on this. However; you are Hokage, and this is your decision."

"We have to keep Kakashi and Sasuke back. If somehow this turned into a catastrophic disaster mission, we'd be out not one but _three _elite jounin. Naruto is S-rank, and this is an S-rank mission."

"How many nin do I get to bring along?" The blond man questioned.

"We've decided on a force of twenty, including yourself."

"Understood. Now, I'm rather curious. How exactly do you plan on getting us _in _to Lightning Country." He questioned.

At this moment the Hokage waved her hand and spoke to an ANBU in the corner. "Bring him in." A few seconds later, there was a knock at the door. "Yes, come in." She said. At this, a man of Naruto's age stepped through the door, with his short white hair with a blue tint, along with his fang like teeth being his most prominent feature. The second thing that stood out to Naruto, was a large familiar sword strapped to the man's back.

"And who are you?" The blond man questioned.

"I'm here to be your solution." Replied the newcomer, giving Konoha's Yellow Flash a large shark like grin. "The name's Hōzuki Suigetsu."

* * *

_**And that's a wrap! Hope you guys enjoyed. Yes Rikka is pregnant, yes Naruto will be a father very early. I forgot to mention he's damn close to 21, sooo. Be happy for them, they can finally have their own family. **_

_**Hope you liked Han vs Naruto, and an end to their feud. I enjoyed writing it, and I hope it reads the way I envisioned it. It was kinda hard to find a way for Han to actually push Naruto's limits, but I think I did alright. Let me know what ya thought! New art from wilczyca117 sometime in the future, so hopefully that will be cools. She does a great job, definitely worth the money. It's really cool to see what I imagine come to life. Anyway, later! Darling in the Fox out!**_


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter Thirty One**

_**Sup. Welcome back. Sorry this wasn't released on a Friday, but hopefully you'll forgive me. I try to put a chapter out about every other Friday. Anyway, I don't own Naruto Kishimoto does. If I did, I'd make a couple cool games, even though they wouldn't have anything to do with Naruto. **_

_**Edit: 11/1/19 fixed mistake saying Team Twelve instead of Team Two**_

* * *

"The name's Hōzuki Suigetsu." Said the newcomer.

"Mangetsu's brother?" Naruto questioned, knowing of the man.

"Yeah. Don't let him overshadow me now. Kirigakure's back, alongside the Seven Swordsmen. I've taken Zabuza's place." The man said. Naruto quickly took in the standard shinobi gear the man wore, it was the same as Konoha's, just grey.

"I thought your village wanted nothing to do with this war?" Naruto asked.

At this point Suigetsu started to make air quotes while speaking. "We don't. But maybe some Kiri nin wanted to fight in the war, so they kinda went rouge and decided to come _work _for Konohagakure." The man said, grinning the whole time. "It was my idea. We all knew Kumo and Iwa wouldn't stay out of Kiri's territories if they beat you. So here I am."

"Hm I see, well then, I look forward to working with you." The jounin said.

"Well, I owe you one after all."

"What do you mean?"

"As ashamed as I am to admit it, I was captured by Orochimaru. I escaped when you dropped that big ass toad on outpost ten in the war with Oto."

"Ah I see, glad to help."

"Anyway, let's get down to the details." Interrupted Shikamaru.

The group began pouring over the plans. They showed that Suigetsu would escort Naruto and his team through the sea surrounding Kirigakure. Under the cover of a cleverly made thick fog formed by Suigetsu, they would slip into the Land of Lightning. There was a hidden cove on the shore line where they could get ashore. The nearby guard tower would have no knowledge of their arrival, even with a sensor nin stationed there. Suigetsu had recently developed an extremely deadly and useful version of the Hidden Mist Jutsu that could hide even the largest of chakra signatures.

"Well then, when do we leave?" Asked Naruto.

"In one week." Said Tsunade. "There's someone who wants to see you."

* * *

**(Warning. I honestly can't remember if I addressed this or not at all before, but if I did, then anything that conflicts with what I write in this scene you can consider retconed.)**

"Naruto boy."

"Lord Fukasaku."

"It was Jiraiya's intention for you to one day learn Sage Mode. I've brought you here to see if you can."

The elder toad had heard long ago that being a Jinchuriki could cause problems with the gathering of nature chakra. He and the late Toad Sannin had discussed the rumors at length, but had never come upon any evidence. They had dug deep, and searched through the history books. Throughout history, other than the rumor that Hashirama had tried to teach Mito, no jinchuriki had ever attempted to learn the Sage arts.

After some time spent introducing Naruto to the theories and working behind nature chakra, the toad had the jounin sitting on the ground in meditation. "No luck Naruto boy?"

"No, I can't feel a thing."

"Alright, now hold still. I'm going to try to fuse with you." The toad hopped atop the blond's shoulders, clapping his hands together and closing his eyes. He soon found out why the boy could not draw in the nature chakra around him. The second his eyes closed, the chakra of the Nine Tailed Fox surrounded his being, forcing the image of the gigantic chakra monster into his mind. Seconds later, the toad felt pain from the chakra that tried to force itself into his own chakra paths. Quickly, he abandoned his place atop the man's shoulder, and sighed in defeat.

"It seems it won't be possible to teach you Sage Mode Naruto boy."

"Hm, I felt it too. The Nine Tails right?"

"Yes, his chakra is so prevalent throughout your own pathways, it seems there is almost no room for any nature chakra to go."

"That's part of the issue. I was able to feel the energy you spoke of when you attempted to fuse with me. Due to my sensor ability, I have a theory. I believe from what I observed, that the chakra of a Tailed Beast is the exact opposite of nature chakra. Not in the literal sense, but like a magnet. Except in this case, opposites repel instead of attract. Tailed Beast chakra seems to force away Sage chakra, meaning I can't even gather it in the first place."

"I see… I'm sorry to waste your time Naruto boy, I thought I could help."

"It's alright Lord Fukasaku, Thank you for your time, I got to at least see the kind of training Jiraiya-Sensei put in to get to the level he was. Anyways, please come visit sometime. I'm sure Rikka would love to meet you."

"Will do Naruto boy, now get back home to your wife." The toad said with a smile. Naruto simply nodded at the elder, giving a grin in reply. The aged toad quickly formed hand seals, and sent Naruto back to his village.

The green creature sat quietly, remembering something Jiraiya had once said. "_Sage Mode would be a game changer for him, yes. But if he learns Minato's jutsu… along with having the Nine Tails.. that boy will be strong enough to handle anything thrown his way."_

"Hm, it seems you were right Jiraiya boy." The toad mused aloud.

* * *

"Please, make sure he comes back safe Yuta-Sensei." Rikka said to her former teacher. She really did not want her husband to go off on such a difficult mission, but she knew his duty to the village called for it.

"Don't worry Rikka, we'll watch out for sunshine." Said Agus Mikazuki, one of her former teammates who was now a jounin. He spoke with almost robotic tone, and his personality reflected that voice. He had fairly long black, and slightly spiky hair. He possessed blue eyes, and was quite short compared to all the people present. The jounin wore a blue T-shirt with a large green coat about 2 sizes too big. Olive green combat pants with black combat boots finished off his slightly unusual look. He'd actually become a fairly well known jounin in the opening stages of the war, he had a very strong water affinity, that some even said could be the closest to Senju Tobirama any Konoha nin had been since the Second Hokage's death.

"You have our word, we will do everything we can." Spoke the almost crazy looking swordsman beside Mikazuki.

"Thank you Kenji." Said the bluenette. The man was her other teammate, Luca Kenji. He had short dirty blond spiky hair, and was a tough looking man from a civilian family. Naruto had noticed in his limited interactions with the man that he almost always had a crazy kind of look in his eyes. He wore a simple dark sweater over blue and red pants. The two male teammates had a close bond, them having met before ever ending up on a team together. Mikazuki had actually even been raised by Kenji's family.

"Alright, how about you two let her say goodbye to her husband." Spoke the former sensei of Team Two, Satomi Yuta. He had graying black spiky hair, red eyes, and slight stubble along his jawline. He looked reclusive and tired, and also had a slight drinking problem, but was actually very outgoing and liked to laugh. He wore the standard Konoha jounin attire, and was almost as tall as the now six foot Naruto.

"Thanks Yuta." The blond said with a grin. He'd met Team Two a while before he'd married Rikka. Her team had been on an extended assignment in the capital. Yuta had become one of the Twelve Guardian Shinobi right after his team had made chunin, and with the exception of Rikka, his genin followed him to the capital with permission from the Hokage. There the boys had trained until they were strong enough to become Jounin. However; with the outbreak of the war, the team was ordered back to Konoha by the Daimyo. He'd made it clear that he could go without a few of his Guardians, and that Konohagakure would need the extra manpower.

The shinobi met with the rest of the outfit, while their commander said goodbye to his wife. Rikka reached up, cupping the cheek of her husband. "Naruto...come back to me...you've got more responsibility here than ever before." As she finished, her lips and voice trembled. So much of the young woman's mind was screaming at her to demand he stay, but she knew he could not. "Come back to us."

"I promise I will. I won't abandon my wife, nor my child. I don't blame my father, but I won't let this child grow up without a father like I did. I will always return to you, because you are the most important person in my life Rikka. I love you." The blond said, leaning into her hand. He wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her to his chest before kissing the top of her head. "I hate saying goodbye, because it feels like I'm not coming back." He said, lifting her chin up. "So instead, see ya later Rikka." He kissed her, and before she knew it the blond was walking down the street, his hand waving above his head.

"Naruto…." She said quietly. "I love you too!" She screamed loudly. She heard him laugh loudly, and watched as he turned around to grin at her. When he turned the corner, she noticed the people staring at her, and blushed bright red.

* * *

At the front gate, the blond shinobi met up with his group. His platoon consisted of four Inuzuka, including Kiba. Three Hyuga came along, among them was Neji. A familiar ANBU had come along too, as Naruto had a particular task in mind for him. The men of Team Two were there as well, with the last six nin consisting of some civilian born jounin and two from the Sarutobi clan.

"All set?" Asked their commander.

"Yes sir!" Responded the group in unison.

"Good. Let's go, we're to meet Suigetsu by dawn, so we're going to travel all night." And with that the platoon got under way. They all knew they couldn't fail, as the mission they had could save the lives of hundreds of Konoha nin.

* * *

Kisaragi Juzo was the youngest jounin in Naruto's platoon. The fresh jounin followed orders well, and was itching to prove himself. He'd been awestruck when he was told he'd be going on a mission when with the son of the Fourth Hokage. He was one of two radio nin that had been sent along, him being the one with a long range transmitter.

He found that two of his fellow jounin seemed a bit excited to be able to go cause chaos behind enemy lines. The talk made him uncomfortable, so he made his way to the front of the ship to find his commander.

Naruto sat at the bow of the ship, with his feet dangling over the railing. Ten of his soldiers joined him on this ship, while the other ten were on a second boat with Suigetsu. He really wasn't sure if he could trust the Hozuki, but he didn't have a choice. If this was a trap, then it was a risk they had to take.

"Sir?" A voice asked behind him.

The twenty one year old blond turned around to see the nineteen year old jounin standing awkwardly behind him. "Oh, hello Juzo. What can I do for you?" The diligent commander had taken to learning and memorizing the names of all those under his command. He was fairly good at keeping the information retained, but every once in a while he still forgot.

"I uh, well I wanted to thank you Sir."

"Oh thank me? For what?" The Namikaze questioned with a smile.

The younger man idolized the blond ninja, and Naruto could tell. "For defending the village from the Akatsuki assault sir, and for all you've done in the war."

"There's no need to thank me. One day defending this village may fall to you and your comrades. If people like myself and Uchiha Sasuke fall in battle, Konoha loses strength. However; as long as you and your comrades exist, there is hope for the village. With your team's help, you're stronger than ever. You just have to have the guts to not give up." Naruto was sure that Konoha could win this war, even if himself and Sasuke were to fall. He was just here to make the war as short as possible, and save the lives of as many Konoha shinobi as he could.

The younger nin stared back at his superior with complete awe. "Um.. you really think so sir? I've only freshly made jounin, and I'm not that strong."

"You were strong enough to become jounin. So I'd say you're strong enough. You'll be leading your own missions often now, unaccompanied by any other commanding officer. Those who stray from the path of justice have no courage, but under the wing of a strong leader, cowardice cannot survive. Be that strong leader, and you can't go wrong."

"Thank you sir."

"Of course, now get some rest, we'll be hitting Lightning Country soon."

"Right." The younger man replied, turning on his heel and leaving his commander to his thoughts.

Naruto had been happy with the distraction his comrade had provided, but now alone, his mind drifted back to its original thoughts. "_Now…. what the fuck am I going to do if the Raikage or Bee show up. I'm the only one who can fight them, so I need to keep my nin safe…"_

He soon resigned himself to playing it by ear. If the Raikage did show up, any plan would go right out the window anyway. "_No strategy survives first contact with the enemy."_

* * *

"Alright, show is this trick of yours." Naruto said to the Kiri ninja.

"Watch and learn Namikaze." Spoke the swordsman. He weaved hand seals, and slowly a large foggy mist rolled in around the boats. They watched as the distant towers disappeared within the growing mist. Naruto closed his eyes, and realized he could barely sense the people on board his boat. He placed his finger down, and with extra concentration could just barely locate the other boat.

"Hm, I'm impressed Suigetsu. It really can hide chakra signatures from sensors." The blond commented.

"Pretty cool huh? Now, let's make landfall no?"

"Indeed, let's." The jounin replied.

* * *

With the boats having been sunk in the deep cove, the team made their way inland. They'd cut large holes in the sides of the ships, after removing all the water susceptible gear from them. Naruto intended for Tenzo to repair the ships with his wood style when they left, thus the ANBU would be sticking close to the teleporter, and was even given one of Naruto's kunai.

The task force made its way through Lightning Country over the next two days, slinking around the enemy to get to their first target. "There it is. The Storm Fortress." Naruto said.

"I'd heard tales of it from my mother, but never thought I'd see it myself." Kiba commented in awe.

"Likewise. My clan keeps stories and records of it in our history books." Neji said. "The Hyuga have quite the grudge against this place."

"Why?" Questioned the Inuzuka.

"This is where Kumo brought any prisoners or corpses from the Hyuga clan to try to extract their Byakugan during the Second and Third World War." Naruto answered for his comrade. The large fortress had a very long and dated history, leading all the way back to the warring clans era.

"I see.." Kiba replied solemnly.

"Think nothing of it." Spoke the well mannered Hyuga. "We will destroy it soon enough."

Over the next day. Naruto and Neji spent their time meticulously learning the patterns of the guards. The Fort had played a major role in Kumo's war effort in the past, and was an important target for the Nara's plan.

With the help of their thorough scouting, the team managed to strategically place large amounts of explosives on the weak points of the fort. Naruto had even managed to get close enough to place Flying Raijin markers on the watchtowers, giving him the ability to put all of his shinobi in position in seconds.

The blond's sensor abilities had told him that, although the fortress' garrison was large, only ten jounin level ninja were stationed there. Although he knew full well not to underestimate any ninja, even genin.

* * *

As sunrise broke through the darkness, chunin Haruko Ken of Kumogakure stood outside of his radio building drinking tea. He watched as the sun slowly rose over the far wall of the massive fortress. He had been sent here as soon as the war with Konohagakure had kicked off to man the radio of Kumo's most important radio station in the area.

The Storm Fortress currently held the closest permanent radio tower to the border of Frost Country. The fort resided on the very border of Lightning and Frost Country. It's proximity to the front line made it the last place orders were relayed through before reaching any station not within the Land of Lightning.

He smiled widely, if he did well, he'd likely have an easy promotion to jounin after the war ended, maybe even before. His job was easy, and he was happy to do it. He yawned loudly and stretched his limbs, feeling light headed as he finished. Once he'd regained his balance, he sighed. "Ah, maybe once the war is over I can finally find a woman and settle do-." The young man was cut off when massive explosions ripped away large portions of the fort's walls.

He watched as Konoha nin suddenly appeared along the watchtowers, and realized what exactly was going on. Recognizing a surprise attack, the shinobi immediately made for his radio. He reached out for the radio transmitter, only for his eyes to widen in shock as a well known kunai carved its way into the electronic equipment. "No! It can't be him." He muttered softly as he stopped his movements.

"Sorry, but you didn't have a chance. The truth is, the game was rigged from the start." Spoke the voice of none other than Namikaze Naruto.

"I….I surrender." The man stuttered out.

"Good choice."

"You...are the Second Yellow Flash of Konoha, aren't you?"

"Yes I am." The blond said sternly. "Now come on."

The blond and his task force managed to capture five of the Kumo garrison, and quickly destroyed the entire fort. He sealed away the chakra of the captured nin, and sent them off with Suigetsu and Tenzo, along with two more of his men back to the ships. There, Tenzo would create and entirely new, smaller boat that the two extra nin would use to take the Kumo prisoners back to the Land of Fire.

After the successful attack, he and his force made their way deeper into Lightning Country. They arrived at the next target soon enough, which was one of Kumo's few full blown forward operating bases. They scouted the defenses and the surrounding area until Suigetsu and Tenzo returned.

* * *

Suigetsu and Neji sat beside Naruto as the blond placed his finger to the ground. They had just observed the arrival of another fifteen shinobi, and Naruto wanted to know their chakra levels. The blond huffed in annoyance soon after as he realized exactly who one of the new arrivals had to be.

"What's wrong Naruto?" Questioned the Hyuga.

With a sigh, the blond lifted his finger off the ground and opened his eyes. "There's a jinchuriki down there."

"What? Really?" Asked Suigetsu. "Dammit this is gonna be a pain."

"Yeah, no kidding. Either this is some routine inspection, or they found out about the destruction of the Storm Fortress. The latter is definitely the more likely candidate. The Namikaze said. "From the chakra level, it seems she's the jinchuriki of the Two Tails."

"It's not everyday we have to fight jinchuriki." Said the dog loving shinobi, who had just walked in on the conversation. "In fact, I'm pretty sure you're the only one who has."

"It's safer for me to do it as a jinchuriki myself than it is to send anyone else to fight them. It just seems to be my bad luck to run into them lately." The blond thought to himself for a while before speaking again. "Listen. When we begin the assault, I'll draw her away. You guys rig the place, and blow a retreat signal."

"Are you sure? We could help." The Inuzuka offered.

"Yes I'm sure. I can handle her by myself, and it will give you time to get the job done." Naruto commander.

"Alright then. Good luck…. don't be reckless Naruto...you've got a child coming." The dojutsu wielder said.

"I know, thank you Neji." The father to be replied with a smile. He stood and walked to a higher point. "Is it time?" He questioned.

"Yes." Neji replied.

"Okay, relay the move order. I'm going." And with that, the blond stood tall on the edge of the cliff overlooking the FOB. (Forward Operating Base.) He drew two of his signature kunai, throwing them high and long into the sky, watching as they arched when gravity grabbed hold of their weight. With a smile, he disappeared in a flash.

* * *

Nii Yugito walked quietly behind the jounin that lead their group. After receiving the news that all contact had been lost with the Storm Fortress, the female jinchuriki was dispatched to inspect and reinforce FOB Gale. She had been dispatched with the jounin in front of her, a man she had just met, and Team Samui that walked behind her. The two students of the blond kunoichi bickered behind them as they walked through the front gate. She tuned out the pair's argument as Samui intervened in their argument, knowing Yugito was beginning to get annoyed.

She glanced back at the team, only to hear the jounin in front of her yell out in pain. She spun around quickly to see him crouching down, and pulling a large kunai out of his foot. Her eyes widened as she recognized the object, and before she could speak, the jounin had his throat cut by the Konohagakure shinobi.

Her claws came to bare, and as she lashed out at the newly arrived enemy, Team Samui finally began to move. The made to provide assistance, but were distracted once again when the South Gate exploded. They watched as Konoha shinobi assaulted the base, quickly jumping into the fray.

The female jinchuriki leapt back, moving to allow her tailed beast to let loose. Naruto being in close proximity, recognized the build up of chakra, and immediately rushed her. He slashed at her with his blade, which she dodged. She took the opening to thrust her claws forward, stabbing into his side. However; only then she realized she'd fallen into his trap. His hand grabbed her wrist, and before she could move to break free, he spoke.

"Let's go somewhere else shall we?" The Namikaze asked with a grin. Suddenly she found herself in a forest about a mile or two away from the FOB. She'd barely regained her barings when she was forced to dodge as a Rasengan ripped apart the ground she had just occupied. Before she could even land fully, he'd already appeared above her.

He swung down with the blade of his kunai, barely missing her neck as she dodged. As she got her footing, he again appeared above her in a flash of yellow. She barely managed to avoid the deadly sweep of his wind covered kunai, only to be on the back pedal once again to dodge a newly incoming Rasengan.

Yugito knew she needed to draw out the power of her beast, but this Konoha jounin had her completely cornered.

They battled quickly the woman on the consistent back pedal, and Naruto was almost fully in control. He flashed behind her, and she finally realized exactly how he was getting to her so easily.

He noticed that she was now staring at her forearm, seeing the formula he'd attached to her. Her eyes raised to him, and she sent him a sharp glare. "You can't get it off, even if you were to kill me. So why don't you just surrender and make this easy?" He asked.

Suddenly the female smirked, and unleashed her claws. "Like hell." Naruto's eyes widened as the woman shaved the entire top layer of skin and muscle off of her marked forearm, and then kicked the severed flesh away.

"Well...that certainly shows commitment." Naruto said. He would admit that this was unexpected, and had actually thrown him off guard slightly. This gave the enemy just enough time to launch forward. She reached him in a burst of speed, and her claws came close to his chest.

The Konoha jounin dodged her attack quickly, and kicked the woman across the clearing, and watched as her beast's chakra began to emerge. He'd given her a chance to draw it out, and he knew that would cause him trouble. Just then, a loud whistle rang out through the area, signaling the Konoha groups retreat. Seconds later, a large explosion sent shockwaves through the ground, and smoke billowed in the air in the direction of the FOB.

She quickly took the form of the Two Tailed cat, albeit still smaller in size. The jinchuriki leapt forward at her enemy, lashing out with her claws. He tossed a kunai lightly out of his hand as her claws got dangerously close to his face. He quickly flashed to a kunai across the field, and before she could move, he appeared at her back. He charged Rasengan and slammed it into her back, sending her to the ground with a hard sickening impact. In seconds, he performed a set of hand seals, and slammed his palm into her back. "Fuinjutsu: Devine Suppression." He said softly as the chakra suppression seal bound her body, knocking the woman unconscious as it did. "If I don't kill her here…she could kill many more of my comrades in the future.." Naruto growled loudly at the predicament, before finally he did something that would bother him for the rest of his life. The jounin withdrew a kunai from his pouch, and spun it around in his hand. His hand shook lightly, as he forced himself to plunge his blade into the side of the defenseless jinchuriki's chest. With the woman now bleeding out, he stood and flashed to a kunai he'd left with Kiba.

* * *

"Yugito! Yuuugiiiitooooo! Where are you!?" Called out Samui and her team. They wandered through the forest, in search of the jinchuriki. As soon as the base had come under attack, the commander had sent them to attempt to back up the now missing jinchuriki. They had gone back and seen the aftermath of Konohagakure's attack, and chose to hunt for their missing kunoichi. They knew there was likely no survivors from the size of the explosion that rocked the earth minutes ago.

Finally the team burst through the underbrush, to find the jinchuriki bleeding profusely from a large hole in her ribs. Samui noticed the strangeness of the stab wound, it was larger than most kunai, and had a fair sized puncture on each side. She was oblivious to the fact that Naruto's kunai were larger and a lot more deadly. What would bring Yugito to her death however, was the severed connection between herself and her beast. With no link, the Two Tailed Cat was unable to heal its host.

* * *

"Well that's objective number two complete. What's next Naruto?" The feral looking man asked. "Naruto? Oi! Naruto!"

"Huh, oh what was the question?" The blond asked, ripped out of his trance.

"What's next?"

"Oh… that would be the Typhoon Fortress. It's Kumogakure's second largest fort. It's likely to be garrisoned with a large amount of shinobi and kunoichi. It's not going to be an easy battle by any means." Naruto mused quietly. His head was in a bad place, he was beginning to doubt himself, and he knew that it could cost his team lives.

"I see, well then it's likely time to get moving then?" Kiba inquired.

"Yeah. Please go gather the troops." Naruto asked of his friend.

"Psh, don't boss me around." The Inuzuka said dismissively, even though he was walking off to execute his orders.

As Kiba left the blond to himself, a thought popped into the platoon commander's head. "_What would sensei think of my actions…"_

* * *

_**Fun fact: Yuta actually made his first appearance in the beginning of the invasion during the chunin exams. I wonder if any of you remember? Anyways, new art coming soon from wilczyca117! It's pretty cool! I'm sorry if my writing quality was subpar in this chapter… I hope you enjoyed, and I'll catch ya later! Darling in the Fox out!**_


	32. Chapter 32

_**Chapter Thirty Two**_

_**Welcome back to Son Of Two Heros!**_

* * *

_**Blandusername: I'm so **__**happy**_ _**you looked at my story! I'm pretty sure one of the first fanfiction I ever read was yours. I believe that it was either Namikaze Naruto, or Path of a Legend. You're **__**amazing**__**! And you're a huge inspiration for me to even think about writing my own stuff! Anyway, I'm super happy to have you review this! You made a lot of great points, and I see plenty of room for me to improve! This is my first fic, and to have someone like you who has a lot of my respect critique me is great. **_

_**Honestly you made a lot of sense with Naruto being more Minato than he is himself. I plan to try and really separate them in future chapters. I feel like my Naruto does border on a bit of a darker personality than Minato sometimes though. **_

_**On the factor of OC's I always knew from the start Rikka would get pregnant during the war. Honestly I chose an OC love interest because I didn't want to worry about having to feel the need to scale the power of Sakura, Hinata, or any original female from the show to keep up with Naruto. I feel no problem with keeping Rikka out of the spotlight when I need to and that's why I created her if that makes sense. **_

_**Honestly I can say one hundred percent of my pacing issue was me wanting to get to the pain arc and my war arc. It's where I feel I have actual creative freedom. I have a bad habit of focusing solely on Naruto, because while I know the others have stories going on at the same time, I honestly don't really want to write about them. Maybe you have tips? **_

_**I agree with you on my action scenes. I'm still trying to figure out how to write those in a way I feel makes sense. It's hard to convey what I see in my head ya know? Notice how I haven't really had him fight anyone but jinchuriki's? That's the only way I see to cause any tension here. I think I have it covered for future chapters. Anyway, thank you so much for your review!**_

_**Hawk2010 and DbzpreteenGohanfan87: thank you both for your long reviews! I enjoy reading them quite a bit! I'm glad to have the both of you following my story, and hope you stay until the very end.**_

_**DbzpreteenGohanfan87: I can confirm that Naruto is capable of using Flying Raijin Guiding Thunder. You suggested it yes, but I intended on it's use from the beginning. You're very good at picking out some of my plans before I actually reveal them!**_

_**Hawk2010: The jutsu of Minato's that geezer toad spoke of was indeed the Flying Raijin. Also, that's fair on your disagreement with my reasoning for him not being able to use Sage mode. Unfortunately it was the best I could come up with, and it is imperative that for later events in the story that I keep Naruto from being overpowered any more than he already is. Flying Raijin is extremely OP imo. Sometimes it's actually hard to write fight scenes because of it. **_

_**Carlos619: you made fair points in your review on chapter 30. Im saddened you are no longer going to follow the story, but it is my first fanfic. Anyway maybe one day you'll give SOTH another chance. Lock the door on your way out my good sir.**_

_**MIKE202303: Fair question. A) Han was a personal vendetta for Naruto. So he had no quarrel killing the man. B) Naruto almost killed Roshi… however Roshi and Han were fighting him almost to a stand still at the time. C) The main difference was that Naruto had Yugito outclassed during the entire fight. She honestly had no chance, and he knew he didn't exactly need to kill her. Thanks for reviewing!**_

_**Flying Raijin: I'm honestly annoyed with your comment. Not enough to upset me in any way, but you and I both know your comment has no basis. The difference between the Raijin marker and a seal containing a tailed beast is immense. My single example will be this; If you snap the blade off the handle of Naruto's kunai, he's only going to be able to teleport to the handle that has the marker. Not the blade. I understand what you were trying to say, but it was a bad comparison. Anyway I still thank you for your review, and hope you stick with my tale.**_

_**Most Bodacious: You're kinda right. Honestly when I reread this last chapter I also feel it seems a bit forced. If I rewrite this ever I will get rid of the part where he takes prisoners before. However; I do have a small counter argument. A jinchuriki is essentially like a nuke in a way. It's why Rin chose to kill herself instead of letting Kakashi take her back to the village. **_

_**So let's say you're Naruto. You've just sealed a Jinchuriki's chakra. I never specified if the seal was permanent or not, which I should have. But either way, you're sitting there with what you're **__**fairly**_ _**sure is a disarmed nuclear device. The last thing you'd want to do is bring it home. But you still made a valid argument. Thank you for your review and I hope you stick with my story.**_

_**Zabyne: Thank you for reading! I'm doing my best, as this is my first fic. I hope you'll stay with it as I get further into my war arc. You mentioned the whole Kushina Mikoto revival. And honestly I'm likely to one day rewrite that chapter and I think I may cut that and find a way to make that entire fight more believable. It's something that has bothered me since I wrote it. Please continue to read and review! Casual and constructive criticism is always welcome! **_

_**Anyways! It's time to continue with the story. I'm super super sorry this chapter took so long. I struggled to write it and I hope y'all like it. I hit some brick walls with my plot and had to think about some things. This chapter actually got almost finished before I scrapped it and started over. I hope it's not terrible. I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto does. **_

* * *

The sounds of battle and the smell of blood filled the ruins of the destroyed fort. Naruto found himself and his platoon now defending the ground instead of assaulting it. They were currently fighting tooth and nail, outnumbered ten to one. During their assault on Kumogakure's Typhoon Fortress, the last few Kumo shinobi had managed to activate a self destruct system that had been built into the Fortress to prepare for an attack. This had been done in direct response to the destruction of the Storm Fortress.

The explosions that had ripped apart the fort caught many of the Konoha shinobi in the blast, leaving the group with more incapacitated nin than combat capable ones. As they tended to their wounded, and prepared to move, Naruto had suddenly ordered them all to dig in. The sensor had caught wind of the rapidly encroaching enemy, and their force was large.

Now the battlefield saw Yuta, Mikazuki, Kenji, and Juzo standing tall in defense of their comrades over half the fort. On the other half Naruto, Kiba, Neji, and Suigetsu held their own. Tenzo meanwhile, had been sent back to the cove before the attack, and likely had no idea what was occurring.

"Naruto! I don't know how long we can keep this up!" Yelled out Kiba.

"I know, just hang in there!" The blond called back. He showed no fear or worry to his comrades or enemy, but his mind was racing. They were trapped behind enemy lines. Most of his nin were wounded, and moving as a group would be impossible. There were few options left for the jounin.

Miraculously, the fighting soon died down and the Kumo nin pulled back slightly, giving the Konoha shinobi a small reprieve. Naruto knew however; that this was no miracle. He felt the strong chakra signatures of a new group of enemy shinobi arriving on the battlefield.

Something else worried the man as well. When the chakra signatures arrived, he quickly felt each of his marked kunai suddenly disappear off the battlefield. Unbeknownst to Naruto, the new arrivals had blasted high amounts of electrical current into each of the kunai, enough to cause the metal blades to explode into fragments, ripping apart the sealing formula they held, and rendering them useless.

A few minutes passed, and finally he noticed the strongest two chakra signatures moving close to the fort. "Yellow Flash! Come out and speak!" Called out a tough voice. They obviously wanted to have a chat, and Naruto knew not indulging their desire would spark a new assault.

Slowly, the blond hero stood from his cover, waiting for any sign of attack. When he found no ambush, he stepped out slightly, to get eyes on the newcomers. At the same time his eyes grabbed hold of his enemy, he felt Suigetsu take place by his side. When the "ex" Kirigakure shinobi caught sight of the two who had called for Naruto, he muttered three words. "Oh fuck me."

Naruto didn't give Suigetsu a response, instead choosing to answer to his opponents. "What can I do for you…?" He asked, while also implying an inquiry as to what their names were. Of the newcomers, their were about twenty large and strong chakra signatures, with the two before him being the strongest of the group. He took in the appearance of the two tall men and their strangely wild but familiar look. The people they seemed to resemble were long dead however; confusing the blond slightly.

"I am Jinkaku." Spoke the first man, who had large long headdress styled gold hair.

"And I am Minkaku." Spoke the second, who had the same hair, but it was silver. "Honestly you don't stand a chance. Surrender now, and your deaths will be painless. A few of you can live if you are compliant and give us intel on your village."

Naruto stared back at the men, seeing the whisker marks all three of them mutually shared. "Let us think on it?" He asked, hoping against all odds for a possibility to stall for time.

"Heh, damn tree hugging bitches. You have exactly three minutes, don't think we're stupid enough to allow you time to recover." It seemed to Naruto that the enemy was a bit overconfident, but they did have the overwhelming advantage. Naruto was already pressed for chakra, and knew that if he wanted to keep the shinobi under his command alive he couldn't leave them undefended for a second. (Say hello to that plot armor!)

He returned to cover with Suigetsu, who immediately got his attention. "Namikaze."

"Yes?"

"Do you know who these guys are?"

"They seem to be descendants of the Gold and Silver brothers responsible for killing the Second Hokage."

"More than that. I recently got intel on this situation, our Kage shared it with yours, but I thought you'd have known about it. Not only are they pretty much the second coming of the Gold and Silver Brothers, but they lead what Kumo is calling the Second Kinkaku Force. They're _dangerous _Naruto. Extremely so." The swordsman said.

An almost sad look gathered on the blond's face before he sighed."Suigetsu... gather everyone in the center."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it. We don't have time."

Quietly and in seconds, Naruto's small force had been gathered in the center of the fort. They only had about thirty seconds before the enemy would attack if Naruto did not show himself again. He ordered his soldiers to gather tightly together in a circle, and before any could ask why, he gave them all a look that made them immediately comply. All of the shinobi except for Naruto stood in a circle, all very confused. They were surrounded by six of Naruto's kunai, He weaved through hand seals quickly and quietly while staring at the ground. As he finished, he clenched his teeth hard, before raising his eyes to meet Yuta's, who stood closest to him. "Yuta."

At this moment, the other jounin and the combat capable shinobi beside him realized _exactly_ what the blond had planned. "Get them back to the village safely. I'll catch up soon. Also, that's an _order_." The blond said with a soft smile and stressing the last word.

Kiba's eyes widened, and he called out while jumping forward, Juzo and Neji following suit. "Like hell!"

"Flying Raijin: Final Retreat." Naruto said quietly. A bright flash filled the interior of the wrecked fort's walls, grabbing the attention of the surrounding enemies.

* * *

Tenzo stood roughly a mile from the cove, waiting patiently for anyone from his team. He was concerned something may have gone terribly wrong, when he heard a snap come from the direction of the fort his group had set out to attack. They trailed out of the forest, carrying each other and helping the wounded who could stand walk. They looked bruised, battered, and half dead. But the wood user caught onto something else, they looked _sad_.

Tenzo stared as his entire platoon minus four appeared before him. They seemed to be as confused as he was. "What happened?"

Yuta walked at the front of the group, and raised his eyes to meet Tenzo's. "We lost." The man sat down by a tree, and drew a flask from an extra pouch he kept on himself. He took a long drink from it before beginning to explain the situation to the ANBU.

* * *

"God damnit Kiba!" Naruto yelled. "You weren't supposed to stay." As he yelled he dodged strikes from the strong shinobi that were currently facing him and the others.

"You're not the only one who refuses to abandon his friends idiot! You're lucky I picked up on your stupid plan." The animalistic shinobi called back. As soon as he finished, he launched into a fang over fang attack alongside Akamaru.

Naruto had used a jutsu based off of the Flying Raijin: Guiding Thunder technique. It was used to transport a large group of people a long distance away. Unfortunately, the farthest kunai away from the fort where they had been, was still within range of any decent sensor in the Kumo group. He'd known if he hadn't stayed as bait, they enemy would have immediately went after the retreating Konoha shinobi.

"The whole goal was to get you out safely!" The blond yelled back, throwing a kunai at Jinkaku. The Kumo nin easily shot the incoming thrown projectile with a bolt from the lightning pistol jutsu, exploding the metal into fragments. On orders from the Kinkaku Force, the rest of the Kumo shinobi that had been participating were told to retreat to a safe distance so the Kinkaku Force could go all out. All of the ninja in the special force were strong in their own right.

"Focus Namikaze! Or we'll kill you here!" Jinkaku yelled jumping forward at him. While more of the Kinkaku force engaged Kiba, Juzo, and Neji, the second of the two brothers also charged at Naruto. Naruto's eyes shot wide as he felt a familiar chakra emerge from the pair, and he voiced his surprise in a simple question.

"How the fuck do you have the Nine Tails' chakra!?" He was forced to backpedal as massive bolts of electricity burst from the ground around him. The two men had immense skill with lightning style, enough to send it through nonconductive material. The pair seemed to have endless amounts of fun fighting the Second Yellow Flash, and each had a permanent smile on their face.

The brothers developed a version one Nine Tails' cloak around them and laughed. "There was a surprisingly interesting boy who originated from the Fire Temple that fell into our hands. Someone had sealed residual chakra from the attack on your village in the boy, and let's just say we made use of him!"

Seconds later found Naruto and the brothers dueling it out in an extremely fast paced fight. Naruto was forced into a situation where they wouldn't even let him let go of his kunai, meaning the blond had limited use of his Flying Raijin.

However; this did not mean the Shinobi was out of his element. His natural speed equaled their own, even with the Nine Tails' cloak. When Naruto combined his speed with his skilled use of the body flicker though, the brothers almost completely lost their advantage.

As the blond parried blows, and landed his own strikes, he sensed something that nearly terrified him. He realized that Kiba, Juzo, and Neji were neigh at their limits, but something else struck fear for the lives of his comrades into his heart. "Juzo! Duck!"

Had he not flashed to the radio nin to push him down along with the shinobi's own dodge. His head would have been ripped off by the Raikage's Lariat. He was too late however, to stop Bee from taking off Neji's arm with a sword. "Neji!" Naruto shouted as he watched the blood and the severed limb fly through the air.

He sped to the side of his injured comrade, pulling the man away from the enemy. He set Neji beside Juzo, and was forced to flash away to stop Kiba from being destroyed by the Gold and Silver Brothers. Naruto forgot Kiba's loyal companion in his rush, and the canine user was forced to watch as the enemy fried the poor animal nearly to death before Naruto interfered.

Once again arriving by his comrades sides, he lay the dog beside Kiba. The animals breath was shaky and labored but he lived. Naruto realized he was the only thing between his comrades and their deaths, so he began forming the hand seals for the Final Retreat jutsu again.

The Konoha shinobi's actions were halted when a massive tentacle slammed down where he stood. He spun around, glancing a blow from Minkaku off his arm, before having to block Jinkaku with his leg. Their blows had large amounts of power behind them, but he took them in stride. The Second Yellow Flash of Konoha was no match for four opponents however, and took a devastating blow to the chest from Jinkaku while dodging. He'd essentially flashed to the kunai in his pouch, allowing him to move about a foot to the right to escape Ay and Bee's Double Lariat. He'd avoided their attack, but put himself in prime position for Jinkaku to make contact. Naruto was sure he'd felt multiple ribs crack, and at least one snap.

He impacted a tree, quickly forcing himself back to his feet. With haste, he formed three shadow clones, who immediately jumped forward at the brothers. Once again, Ay came at him, and Naruto quickly drew multiple kunai from his pouch. He launched them at his enemies, some being destroyed by the brothers. Ay drew near, knowing how Naruto's jutsu worked after his skirmishes with Minato. He watched closely, knowing that the blond would likely be just as fast as his predecessor. However; they hadn't noticed the blond had drawn them away from his comrades, and when the man disappeared it wasn't to attack.

He flashed beside his friends, and clenched his teeth at his sudden revelation. He'd successfully lead the strongest enemies away, but left his friends wide open to the rest of the Kinkaku Force. Four of them stood between him and his friends, and he watched as Kiba desperately tried to keep two nin away from Juzo and Neji. "You're in the way!" He yelled launching forward at the nin that stood in his path. He killed all of them without a second thought, forcing his way through the enemy to help Kiba.

The jinchuriki blew past Juzo, who was crouched down in pain and exhaustion. He buried his blades in the vitals of the Kumo shinobi, successfully freeing Kiba from his struggle. As Naruto let out a sigh of relief, he spun around to stop the incoming enemy, who'd already cut through his clones, only to be greeted with a horrible sight and a sickening wet stabbing sound. He was shocked as he watched Juzo's head roll on the ground, and growled at the sight of eight different swords being buried in Neji's chest.

Another sound ripped away his concentration, and he turned his head to see Jinkaku and Minkaku running Kiba through with lightning coated serrated swords. The feral man let out a choked scream as the blades ripped through him, and blood burst forth from his mouth. The wounded animal on the ground looked with pleading eyes and whined as it watched its master die. Kiba reached for the white dog as he fell to the ground, and gave his loyal companion one last smile as he died.

The surviving Konoha shinobi was ripped away from his shock when he felt Bee close in on him, he side stepped at the last second, managing to avoid fatal damage from his enemy. A blade cut through the side of his chest, deep enough to heavily wound the blond. In his shock his sensor ability had nearly shut down, and had he not managed to reign in his composure slightly, Bee might have killed him. Naruto ignored the growing pain, and leapt back to his only surviving comrade. He scooped up Akamaru into his arms while throwing a kunai to the trees before he flashed away with the dog in tow.

He leveled a glare at his enemy while he comforted the wounded canine. They stared him down, knowing that chasing him would be a fruitless effort. "Jinkaku! Minkaku! Take the Kinkaku Force and find the rest… leave no survivors." Said the Raikage before turning to his brother. "Bee. Stay here Incase this one decides to come back." He said pointing to Naruto. "I must return to the village."

"Of course bro! If that's what you say.. sooo!" Replied the… eccentric shinobi. (Oh my god I apologize I cannot even think of how to write his speech!) The jinchuriki sat down, and the Kage turned to face the Namikaze once again.

"If you were _anyone _else, you would not have survived coming into my country."

Naruto leveled a glare at the hulking man in return, before he turned around and launched a kunai far away into the surrounding area. He proceeded to throw and flash to kunai repeatedly, putting large distance between himself and the enemy.

Soon enough, the blond hunkered down as night began to fall. He tended to the wounds of himself and Akamaru. As he worked, the dog weakly whined, pain constantly coursed through its body, but the pain of losing his master was far worse. "I know boy…. I miss Kiba too." He patted the dogs head lightly, and look directly into the animal's eyes. "Akamaru… I'm sorry I couldn't save Kiba." The large canine whimpered quietly in response, before lightly licking the face of the prodigy. Naruto formed a few shadow clones, and he and the dog curled up together to sleep.

* * *

"It's been a over six hours Yuta, we haven't seen those four anywhere. Not to mention the other two we lost on the way back. We should go search for them!" Said one of Kiba's cousins.

"I'd like to say yes… but Naruto gave a strict order."

"I'll go, I can handle it." Spoke up Tenzo.

"No you will come too, you're the only one that can quickly repair the boa-." He was cut off when Tenzo created a massive shield above them with his Wood Style. A distinct chorus of hundreds of kunai hitting wood rang out, and the Konoha shinobi were forced into a new fight. They'd been lucky the Kinkaku Force strangely had no sensor nin (Naruto had actually killed the two who filled that role in the Kinkaku Force.) but unfortunately that didn't mean they couldn't track.

Suigetsu fought against one of the newly arrived pseudo-jinchuriki along with Kenji, while Tenzo and Yuta took on the other. As the battle began to involve the still wounded shinobi and the rest of the Kinkaku force, Tenzo began to take control of the situation. While the Gold and Silver Brothers were fearsome opponents, Tenzo was likely one of their worst match ups.

The ANBU's skills played a gigantic role in their survival, but he wasn't enough to overpower the duo of brothers. All the Konoha shinobi could do was fight a slow losing battle while on retreat.

* * *

Hours before the battle that would take place between the Kinkaku Force and Naruto's platoon, dawn had come and Naruto walked slowly through the trees. The Nine Tails had done a tremendous job at healing his wounds, but he was still exhausted. He hadn't been able to sleep, and he'd torn open his field stitches in his tossing and turning, forcing the jinchuriki's healing process to restart. After all the fighting, he had burned quite a bit of chakra, and still favored his side. Not to mention, carrying Akamaru in his wounded state helped nothing. The large animal had struggled to keep up, so Naruto had taken it upon himself to carry his new charge.

At the very least, Naruto intended to return Akamaru to the Inuzuka, and personally apologize for his failure to protect Kiba, and his failure to retrieve his body. Well, at least he considered it a failure. He'd sent about ten clones to attempt to retrieve the bodies of his fallen comrades, but if the enemy jinchuriki still stood guard over the fallen fort… they likely wouldn't have the opportunity to seal away the bodies. Considering it was well known that Bee was a perfect jinchuriki, shadow clones could only do so much against a tailed beast. The possibility also arose that the Raikage may have returned. He figured he'd find out soon enough.

He was currently moving to where he could feel the chakra of two of his jounin. They must have been separated from the group. There seemed to be the chakra signatures of three civilians as well, but something was off… they felt.. distressed? The blond quickened his pace, moving toward where his fellow nin where. He arrived shortly, and found a small farmhouse. He heard commotion coming from the building, and cautiously made his way forward.

"Let her go!" Came a shout, undoubtedly from a female civilian with a Lightning Country accent.

"Sit back down you fuckin cloud worshiper!" Yelled another voice, one he recognized as one of his shinobi.

More sounds of a struggle were heard, and the next two noise put Naruto into action. A scream of pure desperate fear rang out from a woman, and the words of the other man in the house rang out. "Hold still you fuckin weasel!"

Naruto launched a kunai straight through the kitchen window, and swiftly set Akamaru down. In a flash, he appeared in the home, and with a quick body flicker found himself behind one of his nin, holding his blade to his comrades throat. "Just what the hell do you think you are doing?" He questioned forcing the man off of the young woman.

In the other corner of the house, he saw what was likely the father and mother. The father lay bleeding on the floor, and the mother shook in the corner. "Com-Commander?" The other shinobi asked nervously with his hands up. The blond jounin launched a kunai that wizzed right past the man's head and stuck into the wall behind him in response. The Konoha shinobi wisely shut his mouth.

"Don't make me ask again Karru." Naruto said, venom in his voice.

"S-sir.. we, we were just investigating this house an-and… and… that guy just came at us." The man spoke, filled with fear.

"I didn't tell you to lie to me Karru." Said Naruto. With blurred speed, he flipped his kunai around and rammed the butt of his kunai into the man's temple. Just hard enough to knock him down and scramble his brain, but not enough to make him unconscious. He wasn't done with him yet.

The other man actually had the nerve to attempt to draw a kunai on him, but before he could get it out of his pocket, Naruto sent the man to the floor. He walked to the other, and grabbed him by the shirt. He lifted the shinobi up so that he could look him in the eye. "If it wasn't for the fact that it's not my call to make… I'd kill you right now you son of a bitch." When he finished, he rammed his forehead into the man's face, knocking him out cold. He gave the other man a harsh kick to the head to make sure he was unconscious, and sealed their chakra up tight.

He turned his attention to the young woman on the floor, whose skirt had been pushed up, and her shirt was ripped apart. He unsealed a jacket from his scroll, and held it out to her. "Here. You should cover yourself." She flinched away from him, but he just continued to hold it out and look away. Eventually she took the coat.

He turned to the mother, who had pulled a kitchen knife out and held it in defense of her husband. "Ma'am.. please put the knife down. I can't change what my men have done, but I can save your husband." Her hands shook as Naruto approached, the knife extended out towards him, but with each of his steps, her resolve weakened. He got up to her, and gently pulled the blade from her hands, setting it down gently on the counter. He unsealed a medkit, and quickly tended to the man's wounds.

As he worked, he could remember the hatred he held for the Iwa nin that had torched that farmhouse in Taki with everyone inside. Back then, he'd have never thought there was still a naive bone in his body… but today proved him wrong. Karru was just as terrible as the Iwa nin. He knew that today, his illusion of Konohagakure at least being somewhat morally superior was shattered. He now knew that men under his command were capable of the same atrocities that had been committed by other villages. "_Can mankind even exist without hate? Scum like these two litter the earth… and we can't even keep them out of our own ranks."_

Sometime later, Naruto gave his absolute best apologies for what had happened, but he knew it wouldn't change the way the family likely now thought of Konohagakure. He assured them that if he had his way, they would be thrown in jail for the rest of their lives, but the family wanted them executed on the spot. A part of him wished he could, but that was the Hokage's call to make, not his.

He left the home shortly thereafter, and was soon greeted with the arrival of his clones, and the memories of one as it burst when it saw him. The rest carried the bodies of his friends. And he gave a small sad smile at the though that they would at least be buried in Konohagakure. The memories of what went down flowed through his mind.

* * *

_His clones arrived on site, being greeted with the sight of Killer Bee standing over his fallen friends. The large man took a fighting stance, but one of his clones waved his hands in surrender. "Wait please! We're just clones… we'd desperately like to take the bodies of our comrades back home."_

"_Yo yo yo, even in your state.. you came back for your friends doe?"_

_Naruto almost dead panned at the man in response. "Yes… their families would be deeply troubled if I don't at least give them a chance for a proper burial."_

"_You're likely the man who killed Yu gi to, no? So why the hell should I let __you_ _go?"_

"_The decision I made to kill Yugito was a hard one… I'd never thought about killing another jinchuriki before. The first jinchuriki I killed I had a burning hatred for, but I had nothing against your friend… A long time ago; when myself and the Kazekage: Gaara were genin.. I made a statement. I told Gaara when I beat him, that I wouldn't kill him, and that I would be his friend because we jinchuriki need to stick together. Those words haunted me when I killed Yugito… I wish the world wasn't like this Bee. I'd much rather have friends than enemies… but this war… Yugito and I were just on opposing sides…"_

"_Na ru to. The son of the great Mi na to. I think I'm gonna let you go! You're much like your father, and he wasn't a bother! These words you speak.. they might just bring peace. Now get goin. Take your friends, 'cause times a flowin!"_

"_Thank you Bee." Naruto said._

* * *

"Thank you Bee." He said aloud himself. He carefully picked up Akamaru again, and they made their way back to where the Platoon should have gone. Sure, any clone could have carried the dog, but he felt personal responsibility for the safety of his last living comrade from his group of four. Well, five if you count Akamaru himself.

Soon enough Naruto found his platoon. He was greeted once again with a battlefield. One Hyuga, one Inuzuka, and both Sarutobi, along with two more of his civilian born shinobi lay dead or dying on the battlefield.

The seven survivors were fighting a losing battle at the edge of the cove. It didn't help that the watchtower on the shore had been alerted, bringing a few more Kumo nin to the conflict. Naruto had two of his clones take Akamaru from him, and he himself quietly and quickly joined the battle. As one would assume, when the Flying Raijin is combined with the element of stealth it is nearly impossible to defend against. With this, he wiped out half of the Kinkaku force along with all of the reinforcements from the watchtower before the Gold and Silver brothers took notice.

Once they did, Naruto fought openly alongside Tenzo. With Naruto's arrival, the battle became much less one sided, especially with the addition of Naruto's now fairly restored chakra pools. He'd gained enough back during his travel to the coast, and was now in fair fighting condition.

As it turned out, the combination of Mikazuki and Suigetsu was an extremely deadly one. Between them, it seemed water became and absolute danger for any enemy on the battlefield.

The leaders and survivors of the Kinkaku Force soon realized their inability to continue fighting their targets. They wisely chose to retreat and at what would likely be the ire of the Raikage, they let the Konoha shinobi escape.

* * *

A loud angry sigh rang through the office of the Raikage. "So you let them escape."

"Yes sir… we failed your orders."

"Well, no matter. Namikaze will be killed eventually during this war if I have a say in things. Jinkaku, Minkaku. You bring honor back to your bloodline, and no longer will the betrayal of your ancestors stain your name."

"Thank you sir, it means a great deal to us."

"Good. Now dismissed." The large man ordered. After they left the room, he snapped the arm off his chair in anger. "That damn blond asshole is too fast to kill! There's not a shinobi on this planet that can match his speed!"

A strange chuckle rang out as the door crept open, and a man in strange robes walked out. "I might be able to help you with that. There is one..but he no longer lives."

"Just who the hell are you!?" The Raikage shouted, slamming his fist through his desk.

"Well, if we can talk business first… I'll tell you."

* * *

As the group made their way through the gates of Konohagakure, Naruto turned to look at Yuta. "Please go to see Lady Hokage first. Tell her I'll be there shortly. Something of the utmost importance must be done."

"Um alright.. well don't take to long Naruto."

The blond made his way to the Inuzuka compound with great speed, Akamaru held gently in his arms. He knocked on the door and within a minute, Inuzuka Tsume answered. "Oh, Naruto. What can I do for you?" At this moment, she noticed the still fairly beat up dog. "Wait.. No."

"Lady Tsume… I'm sorry but.. Kiba and one of his cousins were killed in action. The death of your son was… directly my responsibility. I failed to keep him safe." He said, bowing and holding out the scroll containing his dead friends body. Tsume had let the blond boy into her home a few times for meals when he and Kiba would play together. She had always known he was the son of the red and yellow couple. The feral woman had always liked the kind young boy, and she knew his heart hurt nearly as much as her own at that very moment.

"Oh Naruto…. it's not your fault. Come here boy." She said, grabbing the scroll before pulling the taller man into her embrace. The matriarch of the clan growled lightly as she fought back tears, and soon enough Naruto let just a few of his own drip down his cheeks.

"Would you like me to tell Hana for you?" He asked.

"No that's alright Naruto. Thank you for bringing Akamaru back. He may never serve as a ninja hound again, but he'll definitely live."

After a few minutes spent with the clan leader. Naruto departed the home with a sad smile. His next stop was the Hyuga compound. He was about to deliver news of the death of a clan prodigy, along with another of the clan members deaths. The Hyuga had always been a proud and emotionally closed off clan, so he wasn't suprised when no tears came from the clan leader.

Tears that did flow however, came from Hinata. As she had stood next to her father as he delivered the body and news of his fate. She cried even more when he pulled her aside after, and let the kind woman know the fate of her boyfriend as well. "I'm sorry Hinata." He left with that, as she spoke no words through her tears.

Naruto had a final stop at a place he had not wanted to go. The Hokage would be pissed if he took much longer, but he dreaded this visit. He knocked on the door, and an older woman answered quickly. "Oh hello, do I know you? Perhaps you're a friend of Juzo's? I'm sorry but he's on a mission right now."

"Ma'am. Please forgive me. Your son.. was killed in action under my command." He said, holding his arms out with the scroll containing Juzo's body.

"My Juzo… is dead?" The fit that followed deeply hurt Naruto. Seeing the pain of the people closest to his fallen comrades. He deployed clones to do the rest of the notifications of death. He personally delivered the news to the three who had died in an attempt to help him survive. But he wouldn't let some messenger be the bearer of bad news to anyone else either. All of them had died under his command, and he would do this himself. Even if it meant using clones.

Finally, Namikaze Naruto stepped through the doors of the Hokage's office, and found Yuta and Suigetsu there. It seemed the rest had been sent home.

"Naruto." Said the blond Kage.

"Ma'am. Namikaze Naruto reporting back from a complete S-tank mission. I'd like to report that, despite our success in our objective… my unit took mass casualties. I took it upon myself already to deliver the bad news to each family already, but I'd like to request that you send a Yamanaka by each home to see if they can help with the grieving."

"That will be done. Now what about these two?" She questioned, throwing the files of the two arrested Konoha shinobi on the desk. He responded with a full report, and it was quickly decided that Tsunade would make an announcement to all of Konohagakure's shinobi about the atrocious acts of the two men, and they would be thrown in a maximum security prison for the rest of their lives. Hopefully this action would deter this kind of thing in the future.

After more conversation and detail sharing the other two Ninja left the room, and Naruto asked his Hokage if there would be anything else.

"No Naruto… that is all. Please, return home to your wife."

"Yes ma'am." He said, turning and stepping through the door. Before he closed it however; she spoke to him.

"Naruto."

"Yeah?"

"It's really not your fault kiddo."

"Sure as hell feels like it Granny." He responded with a sad and bitter tone.

* * *

_**Anyone notice the foreshadowing from last chapter about the events at the farmhouse? And just who has met with the Raikage? It's probably fuckin obvious though. I'm shit at mystery. **_

_**Anyway, sorry if this is a little short too. I can't give a solid estimate of my next update, because I'm currently having trouble with this fic. Don't worry it won't get abandoned, but it might take me a bit longer to put out chapters for a while. **_

_**Also. I've been thinking on other fic ideas too. I fully intend to write a NarutoxFemSasuke eventually. A) because I have a few ideas and B) because I feel there's not enough of them.**_

_**My other fic idea, well bare with me here. How do you feel about a NarutoxFemKiba story? Eh, guess I'll test the waters sometime. Anyway thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you next time. Darling in the Fox out!**_


	33. Chapter 33

_**Chapter Thirty Three.**_

_**I don't own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does.**_

_**Unaymus77: I've always had an affinity for sudden brutal twists in tone so that's about the only reason. That's part of the reason Ryuko existed.**_

_**Han and Roshi vs Naruto:**_

_** wilczyca117/art/C-Fight-Scene-816797889**_

_**Might start a NarutoxfemKiba soon. Anyway, here's today's chapter.**_

* * *

Naruto could sense Rikka's chakra as he entered his home. His wife slept soundly in their bed, and Naruto made a point to be quiet as he came in. The male of the household silently placed his gear in his closet, and began stripping down.

He made his way to the shower, and sighed as he ran his fingers over his now healed scar that had completely disappeared. His teeth clenched, and his body shook as thousands of thoughts ran through his head. "_My friends come home in scrolls and I come home without even a bruise…" _The jounin clenched his fists and released them before taking a deep breath. With a few quiet steps, Naruto pulled the shower closed behind him, and let the water run over his body.

In all his fights, and all his injuries only one had been severe enough to leave a scar. It was one he'd gotten on purpose as well, and he'd never felt the lasting effects of a battle on anything except his mind. He rubbed the place where Sasuke had ran his arm through his chest.

One scar. That was all. How many of his comrades had died fighting beside him, or even to protect him? How many had he lost because of his own shortcomings as a leader? Most would say it wasn't his fault, but to Naruto the well-being of everyone in the village fell on his shoulders.

The night of the Pain attack he'd promised himself that he would watch over the village as his father and pseudo-grandfather had before him. He would never break that promise, but he hadn't fully understood the weight of that promise at the time. A Hokage would need to actively send shinobi on missions where they could die.

A team or platoon leader had incredible responsibility placed on their shoulders. A Hokage however; shouldered that responsibility day in and day out. It would never leave, not even while they slept. Naruto was finally understanding what it took to be Hokage. Sure, the recognition and strength mattered. But not nearly like the pure will power to took to make those decisions that no other could.

Naruto sighed loudly. His thoughts were all over the place. Kiba would be confused if they'd have been having a conversation. He'd been close with the feral man as children, and now he regretted not ever spending much time with his childhood friend. "_Speaking of which… I need to catch up with Shika and Choji soon. Heh, maybe I could get the whole class together." _

The blond smiled to himself as he finished out his shower. Once he felt clean, and a little bit more relaxed, he stepped out and brought himself to the mirror. The jounin's once bright blue eyes seemed a bit darker now, and he couldn't help but wonder if his father had ever looked the same. Alive but slightly lifeless eyes… he desperately wanted to have a chance to speak to his mother and father again, but he knew that could never happen.

"Shit… I really do look like dad." He said aloud. With a sigh, he stared down at the counter, and soon the maelstrom of emotions inside him erupted. Naruto clenched his teeth as silent tears fell from his face. "Goddamnit."

He walked backwards from the counter, and when his back lightly touched the wall, he resigned himself to slide down. Everything in his life leading up to now was roaring through his mind. All of the emotions that he had decided to bottle up when he was younger finally began to rise to the surface. Every bit of anger and sadness he'd ever kept inside now rose, and he hated feeling like this.

The blond preferred to feel happy. He liked it, and he liked his life. The time he spent with his wife would always make him happy, and it angered him that other emotions from times both recent and in the past could rip him away from that happiness.

His arms hung from the tops of his knees as he sat with them pulled up to his chest. The man's head hung low, and just when everything seemed completely unbearable, he felt a soft touch. The soft hands grabbed lightly onto his own, before slowly sliding up to his shoulders. The fingertips traced his whisker marks before both hands cupped his cheeks and lifted his head.

Naruto's dim blue eyes slowly filled back up with brightness at the sight of his wife. The woman's red eyes stared back at him, and a soft but concerned smile filled his heart with love. Her presence alone cast away the dark cloud of sadness that surrounded him, and he briefly wondered if this was how his father might have felt when he would come home to his mother.

"Naruto dear...what's wrong?" She questioned softly.

He stared at her for a moment, and idly wondered why he hadn't sensed her. It came to mind that his sensor abilities did seem to be useless when he was under the effect of extreme emotions. "Rikka…. Kiba and Neji were… killed.. during the mission. Along with a young jounin I'd had some time to talk to who had a bright future ahead of him."

She pulled the blond into her arms, and soon enough she sat against the wall with his head in her lap. He explained to her the entirety of the events leading to the deaths of his comrades, and when he finished she asked a simple question. "Naru… do you blame yourself?"

"Absolutely." He mumbled.

"Do their families blame you?"

"No…"

"Does the village?"

"No… Rikka, what are you getting at-.." He was cut off when she leaned down and kissed him.

"I don't blame you either. And I'm sure Kiba, Neji, and…?"

"Juzo."

"Kiba, Neji, and Juzo would likely not blame you either dear. They leapt forward to help you the second they realized you planned to stay alone. Which by the way we need to have a talk about that absolutely foolish idea of yours." She said quickly smacking him on the head before continuing. "But anyway, I know for a fact that although he never would have admitted it, Kiba thought of you as a member of his pack, and would gladly give his life for family. Hana told me once that he thought of you as a distant brother. I think Kiba would want you to move on and be stronger, rather than dwelling on his death."

"I-I… I know… it's just… I don't ever want to watch my friends die again, and I know that there's a good chance I'll have to."

"Right now, I think your father and Jiraiya-Sensei would ask you if you're thinking about giving up. But you're Namikaze Naruto. The son of the Fourth Hokage. The Student of not only Kakashi of the Sharingan, but Jiraiya of the Sannin."

"You're right… but it hurts… my heart feels so cold."

"When you gave me that scarf all those years ago, you asked if I was cold. When I said yes, you told me that you'd be the one to keep me warm. So for the rest of our lives Naruto, I will love you and keep you warm in return."

The blond sat up and spun around, and soon he locked his lips with hers. When they broke away, Naruto stared her deep in the eyes. "I love you. Thank you Rikka." When those words left his mouth, she knew her job was done. As he spoke his eyes lit back up to their full bright blue, and Rikka knew her husband would be okay.

He pulled her to her feet and soon enough they sat on the couch. Naruto moves over her, and placed his ear over her now quite showing belly. He'd spent quite a lot of time behind enemy lines in Lightning Country, and in that time, his child had grown a lot. In his absence, Tsunade had discovered the gender of their child. On Rikka's request however; the Hokage had kept it to herself so that the couple could find out together.

"Tsunade knows if our child is a boy or girl, I told her not to tell me." She informed him.

"Wanna go find out tomorrow?" He said with a smile as he pressed his face gently against her stomach.

"I'd love to." Rikka replied with a smile. "I was waiting for you to come back."

* * *

"It's a girl." Tsunade said with a smile. The young Namikaze family sat across the desk from her and she almost laughed at the grin that broke out on the jinchuriki's face.

"Rikka, we're gonna have a daughter!" He said happily as he wrapped his wife up in a big hug. In response, the blue haired woman simply rubbed her stomach and smiled softly.

After a few more minutes of conversation with their Hokage, the pair left the Hokage tower. Naruto moved to pick up his wife and flash them home, but Rikka stopped him. "It's been a while since we've walked the the village together. Isn't that right Naruto?" She said smiling.

"Heh, I guess it has huh? Wanna go get some ramen? It's been a bit since we've visited Teuchi." He asked rubbing the back of his head.

"It has indeed. It can't hurt to drop by, but you better not spoil your appetite for dinner got it?" She replied, giving him a look that promised pain at the end.

The pair leisurely made their way through the village, talking to shop owners and villagers here and there. As they stopped at a street stand, a familiar voice called out. "Yo Naruto."

"Hey Kaka-Sensei. How's it going?" Naruto asked with a smile.

"Not bad, I've just returned to the village from the Iwa front."

"Finally some time off?"

"Yeah, but not for long. You know how these things go."

"Heh, ain't that the truth."

"Looks like you might be preparing?" Kakashi questioned, noticing some of the stuffed animals and toys they had gotten for their offspring.

"Heh, yeah a little bit."

"Do you know yet?"

"Yes, we're having a daughter. We just found out today." Rikka said, speaking up.

"Congratulations." Kakashi said with his signature eye smile.

"Thank you Sensei."

"Is Sasuke back in the village by chance?" Naruto questioned.

"No, but I think he's supposed to be returning sometime tomorrow."

"Oh, good. Maybe we could all have dinner?"

"I'd be glad to attend."

"Thank you Sensei."

"Of course Naruto."

With that, the masked jounin left their company and the couple resumed their walk. As the day hit noon, they found themselves outside Ichiraku Ramen. Naruto lifted the cloth flap for his wife, and stepped into the establishment behind her.

"Well hey there Naruto!" Teuchi greeted. "And welcome Rikka."

"It's nice to see you Teuchi." Said the blue haired woman.

"How's business?" The blond questioned.

"Without my favorite customer it's a little slower, but still going strong." The old man replied. "What can I get started for you?"

"The usual please sir." The woman said.

"Coming right up." He replied. Finally, Ayame came out from the back and at the sight of Rikka and her growing belly her eyes lit up.

"Rikka! You're so far along!"

"Only three months left." She replied with a gentle smile as Ayame came around the counter. (I didn't actually do all the math for the dates so just go with it please.)

"Are you excited?" Asked the ramen waitress with a grin.

"Of course. I can't wait to meet her." Rikka replied.

"Oh? It's a girl!?" Asked an excited Ayame.

"Yeah, now that Naruto is back we went to see Tsunade to find out." Answered the mother to be.

The shop owner's daughter turned to the blond jounin and smiled. "And I bet you're excited as well, eh Naruto?"

The jounin smiled at the woman and scratched the back of his head. "Well, I've always wanted a family, so I'm overjoyed."

This went on for a while, and the four shared a joyful afternoon together. The couple said their goodbyes to the ramen shop family and began making their way home. On the way back, Naruto stopped and made a shadow clone to go invite Iruka for dinner later that night. The couple had a special request for the academy teacher.

* * *

That evening, about an hour before Iruka would arrive, Naruto sat in a chair in the middle of the kitchen.

"Dear… are you sure about this?" Questioned his wife.

"Of course Rikka."

"But… you've always been proud of it and loved it?"

"I still do, but it needs to change… sometimes… I feel like when people look at me, they don't see Naruto."

"Your truly are the spitting image of your father."

"Right? That's exactly it. They know I'm his son, but…I feel the need to really distinguish myself as well. Otherwise my stone face on that mountain one day will just be my dad with whiskers."

"Well…. that's fair. How short?"

"Take the bangs back about half… I'm okay with them hanging down like dads, but I want them to only reach the top of my whisker marks. The try to leave the rest pretty long though. Please and thank you."

When Rikka finished cutting away at Naruto's hair, he looked a bit like a new person. Rikka couldn't help but remember that she once read that sometimes when someone has trouble dealing with something traumatic they change their hair, but it seemed to make her husband happy so she didn't question it.

The bluenette leveled her red eyes at him and held up a mirror to his face. "Do you like it?"

"I love it. Thank you." The blond jounin responded.

(Okay, so it's like his original hair before he cut it short, but maybe a little longer. And the bangs still drop down like Minato's, but they trail off at the top whisker mark on each cheek. Maybe think of the Tale of the Gutsy Ninja version of Naruto and add slightly more pronounced and longer side bangs like his dads.)

Eventually, Iruka arrived at the home and knocked on the door. "Hiya Iruka-Sensei!" Said the smiling blond as he opened the door for his guest.

"Oh! Naruto… you look… different." Iruka said in surprise as he looked at his student. He'd gotten so used to the blond's hairstyle that it threw him off quite a bit.

"Heh, I thought you might say that." Naruto said with a chuckle. "Come on in, I just set the table and Rikka should have dinner finished up."

The group settled in the home and enjoyed a nice meal. That talked and laughed for a good hour before Rikka got up and left the room to do dishes.

"Thank you love." Naruto said as the woman collected his and Iruka's plates.

When she reached the kitchen, Naruto turned his eye to Iruka. "Sensei. I have something to ask of you."

"Oh? What is it?" Asked the man with quiet curiosity.

"Well, you see… Iruka-Sensei… would you be this child's godfather?"

"What? Me? I-I well I mean… uh wouldn't Kakashi be the better choice?"

"Sensei, you may not be a legendary shinobi, but you possess many of the ideals you instilled in me as a child. You taught me so much, and helped me even more. The love, happiness, and life lessons you taught me are all something we'd like our child to experience first hand from you."

"You're a wonderful choice Iruka-Sensei… please do consider it." Rikka cut in as she returned to the table.

The man stared back in awe with a slight blush on his face. "Well, I guess if you really think so! I'd be honored." He replied with a grin while he rubbed the back of his neck.

The couple smiled back at him before giving a slight bow. "Thank you Iruka-Sensei."

* * *

"Sakura?" Asked Sasuke as he stepped into his home. The pinkette had moved into his home after they'd been together for a year, and he'd just come back from his extended mission.

"Sasuke! You're back!" She called out, seeing her lover step through the door.

"Hn. So I am. How've you been?" He questioned.

"Lonely without you here, but I've managed. The hospital was busy for a while, but it's slowed down. Sit, I just finished dinner." She commanded.

At this, the Uchiha removed his flak jacket and hung it up in their room. The pair sat down to enjoy their food, and idly chatted while they ate. Just as Sasuke filled his mouth with rice, Sakura made a comment. "So you know Rikka only has three months left of her pregnancy?"

Rice flew across the room after Sasuke choked on it and spit it out. "What?" He wiped his mouth and hid a blush, he put on a neutral face and acted as if nothing happened. "I mean, oh she is?"

At his antics Sakura laughed at the man. She couldn't help but be overjoyed he'd returned once again. "Maybe we should pay them a visit soon?" She questioned.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt. There's a few things I need to discuss with Naruto anyway." The raven haired man replied.

Sakura put a knowing smirk on her face before speaking. "Jeez, you just can't admit you miss seeing your best friend can you?"

"Hn."

Sakura simply laughed in response.

* * *

"Hello?" Asked Rikka as she opened the door.

Sakura's smiling face greeted her along with Sasuke who stood behind her. "Hey." The pink haired woman said. "Got time for a visit? Figured we'd drop by."

"Of course!" Rikka said in slight excitement. It'd been a while since she'd been able to see her friend. She'd seen her for her first few exams with the baby, but that was it.

The pair came into the home, and Sakura urged Rikka to sit and let her make tea for them. "How's the child?" Asked Sasuke.

Rikka smiled at him and rubbed her baby bump before responding. "So far, she's doing great. We're very excited to meet her."

Sasuke smiled lightly at his friend's wife. "I'm sure you are. Have a name yet?"

"Well… no actually me and Naruto haven't really discussed it." The woman said as she blushed.

"Of course he'd forget something important like that." Sasuke scoffed with a laugh.

"Speaking of which." Sakura said as she entered the room with the tea. "Where is the 'fastest man in the world' anyway?"

The pregnant woman smiled back, and laughed. "Oh, he's in the shower off our room. He should be out soon enough. I'm sure he knows you're out here."

"Of course I do." Said Naruto, walking out of their bedroom in a blue standard Konoha uniform. "Yo."

The stoic Uchiha let out a hint of surprise as he saw the blond's new look. "Oh? You cut your hair huh?" He asked.

"Yup." He replied with a grin.

"It actually looks great Naruto." Said the pinkette as she examined his new look.

"Thanks." He said with a chuckle. "Rikka did it, so she really deserves the credit.

"Oh? Where did you learn to cut hair?" Inquired the medic nin.

"I used to do it for Ryuko and a few others when we were kids." Rikka smiled slightly at the good memories of her childhood

"Ohhh I see."

After talking for a while, Naruto gave Rikka a look before heading outside with Sasuke. The two jounin stood on the balcony of the Namikaze household, both leaning against the rails looking out at the village. They stood in silence a while, each knowing that they had something troubling on their mind. Finally Sasuke broke the silence.

"So, I heard that when people suddenly change their hair it tends to be because of something traumatic happening. I'd assume you got torn up over Kiba and Neji." The man questioned, as he turned to his friend.

"Mhm." Naruto hummed quietly. "And a young jounin named Juzo. He was a good kid. Definitely had lots of potential."

"A good kid? You talk like you're ten to twenty years older than you are." The Sharingan weilder was surprised at the very somber change in his friend. He knew Naruto had some darkness brewing, but he hadn't expected a radical behavior change.

"Well…. this war is changing me a lot more than I'd ever thought it would y'know? He asked turning his head toward his comrade. "Add to it… you remember that old man's place in Takigakure? The guy that helped us?"

"Well yeah. Seemed like a nice guy." Said Sasuke with a cautious and questioning look.

"Some Iwa nin trapped the whole family in the house and burnt them alive during their retreat." The Namikaze said solemnly.

Subconsciously, Sasuke's Sharingan activated. "They what?!"

"Yeah… that's how I felt too. I condemned Iwa, and I didn't look at Iwa nin the same way after that. But…" Naruto trailed off. He hadn't really thought about the event since he'd returned.

"But what?" The other man questioned.

"On my way back from fighting the Raikage and losing those three… I caught up with two of my jounin…" The blond trailed off in thought as the event replayed in his head.

"Naruto, you've never been one to hesitate. Just spit it out." The Uchiha was almost annoyed at how different his friend had been acting.

"Right.. well, they'd broken into a farmhouse. The mother and father were there along with their teenage daughter. They stabbed the father, and while one kept the mother restrained, well the other tried to rape the girl." The blond explained.

"Wait… our own shinobi?" Sasuke was honestly surprised. He knew he should have expected something like this but his genin days may have instilled some naivety in him.

"Yeah… that's how I looked at it. No matter how much war I saw before, I always had this naive way of looking at Konoha. I thought we would always be the good guys… but I was definitely wrong." He said relaying his thoughts to his closest friend.

Sasuke let the silence settle for a bit before he finally spoke again. "I mean.. I probably looked at it the same way almost. But with the way things went down with Itachi and Danzo… you could say we should have learned our lesson then."

The blond sighed before he looked at his friend once again. "That's true isn't it. Sasuke… do you think we're doing the right thing? You and I…. we've killed so many."

The Uchiha thought for a while to gather his words before speaking. "In the eyes of Iwa and Kumo, we are scum of the earth who mercilessly murder their friends and comrades. In the eyes of the people and shinobi of Taki.. we're the saviors who came to their aid when they needed it most. The difference between right and wrong lies in the viewpoint of those who witness our actions." Sasuke sighed and continued. "However; acts like the ones you witnessed in Taki and Lightning Country are always wrong. Non-combatants should be left completely unharmed during our petty wars. They all just want to live their lives in peace. I think it would be proper for a shinobi to attempt to preserve and protect the lives of innocents... but that duty will always bring war."

"And with war...the scum of the earth rise to the surface." Naruto said, understanding where Sasuke was going.

"Took the words right out of my mouth Naruto." Replied the raven haired man with a sigh.

"Sasuke… where do we draw the line?"

"In war? Wherever we need it."

"Naru?" Asked the lovely voice of the red eyed girl peeking her head outside. "Are you two alright?"

Naruto smiled at his lover and instantly replied. "Yeah, we were just about to come in love."

The group of four spent most of the day together after that, and they enjoyed their time. They watched a few movies, and even went out to eat. There was no doubt that the families of the Uchiha and Namikaze would always be close friends.

Finally, Sasuke and Sakura said their goodbyes and headed home. "Later guys." Said Sakura walking down the path.

"Hey S'ke?" Naruto said, causing the Uchiha to stop and turn around. "Thanks for the talk."

"Anytime Naruto." Replied the Uchiha with a tiny smirk.

The blond once more grabbed the man's attention. "Hey Sasuke?"

"Sup?" The jounin said with a questioning look.

"Better pop the question soon, there's no time like the present. Or are you just a scaredy-cat?" The Namikaze asked with a foxy smirk.

"Hn. I know. I plan to. See you round Naruto, Rikka." The Uchiha said playing the blond's comment off.

"Bye now! Both of you take care!" Said the bluenette with a grin.

Her husband smiled down at her, and she could just tell he was going to say something cute. "You smile so much now Rikka. It makes me so happy every time I see it. Your smile lights up my life in ways the sun never could. I love you so much y'know." He said pulling her towards him and kissing her head.

"I love you too Naruto… I'm glad I met you." She replied while wrapping her arms around him. "Thank you Naruto." She whispered into his chest.

"What are you thanking me for love?" He asked with curiosity.

She squeezed tightly on his shirt and laughed lightly into his chest. Tears of joy welled in the corners of her eyes, and she couldn't help but notice her heart was racing. "Thank you for choosing me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for making me your wife. And most of all… thank you for making me the mother of your child."

"_Our_ child." Naruto said, crouching down and putting his ear to her stomach. "And daddy sure can't wait to meet you…" The grin that split his face gave away just how excited he was to have his first born child brought into the world.

"We still haven't picked a name." She commented quietly.

"I know but.. well I have no idea what to name a girl." The blond hummed in thought after the words left his mouth, contemplating what names sounded good.

"I think I have the perfect one." She said looking up at the ceiling.

"Oh? You do?" The curiosity was written all over his face, and he looked silly enough that Rikka almost giggled.

"I would like to name our daughter after your mother Naruto." The woman said with a gentle smile.

"Wait really? You'd be alright with that?" He questioned in mild surprise. It had crossed his mind once or twice but he'd never actually considered it.

"Your mother seemed to be a wonderful woman… and I can't think of anyone else to be a better namesake." She'd placed a lot of thought into the name before, and she'd really enjoyed the idea of naming her daughter after Naruto's beautiful mother.

"Thank you Rikka… thank you so much." The male Namikaze said with hints of tears in his eyes as he looked up at her. Soon he turned his focus back on the woman's stomach and spoke to his child once more. "Daddy and Mommy can't wait to meet you Kushina… we love you so much." The mother to be simply smiled softly down at her loving husband, a man who'd stolen her heart long ago.

* * *

_**So that's that. Sorry it's not longer but I really didn't see a better place to end it than right here. I hope you guys liked it! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. The scenes between Naruto and Rikka were a blast. Anyway that's all. Darling in the Fox out! Later!**_


	34. Chapter 34

_**Chapter Thirty Four**_

_**I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto does.**_

_**Heyo guys! I'm back just like I said! And someone left a review saying I wouldn't be! How rude! Anyway, I hope y'all had a great Christmas. Please check out my new story Namikaze's Lament, and please enjoy this chapter! **_

* * *

A loud noise had the Namikaze household awake at a very early hour. Naruto knew Rikka was exhausted, so he immediately stood from bed. "Don't worry, I'll get her." He whispered, kissing her on the head.

The blond made his way down the hall, and smiled as he opened the door to the room the noise originated from. A baby lay in the crib, crying loudly. "Kushina… don't cry, dad's gonna change your diaper."

After the short and unflattering process. He held his child in his arms. "_Eleven months since you were born… it's been eleven months already." _He rocked his child lightly in his arms, and when he happened to lean his head down, she grabbed hold of his blond hair.

The small child tugged at his hair, giggling sleepily. "Dada." Naruto grinned at her when she spoke, she'd been saying dada and mama a lot. She was cute, and he loved her. She had a small mop of tomato red hair on her head that had one blue strand that stuck out from the rest.

Soon enough his child fell back asleep, and he gently lowered her back into her crib. He quietly returned to his wife's side and fell asleep soundly. However; despite the happiness in the Namikaze's heart, he knew not all was right with the world, and Konoha wasn't in the best position.

* * *

"At first it was going well… we were at the advantage the whole time it seemed… but after I met the Raikage… we had setback after setback, and loss after loss. The sudden emergence of Lord Second's Reanimation jutsu made what was beginning to look like a quick and decisive victory… into a slaughter of our own troops.. by our own deceased loved ones." Naruto said sitting atop his father's head. He looked over the village, admiring the beauty of it all. "And the worst part.. is that I know I'll have to face you again."

**Flashback. One month ago.**

"What the hell do you mean we lost contact with the entirety of Third Battalion?" Naruto questioned. The radio nin before him however; was just as puzzled as he was. Third Battalion had contained six radio nin, and the odds of an entire battalion being wiped out before anyone could relay their attack back to them was unheard of. Except for the feats of one man.

"I don't know sir, their just gone. I can't get any of them on the radio?" The nin said in confusion. "Maybe their jamming us?"

"No, I doubt it. Jamming usually results in the immediate deployment of a courier squad. I'll go myself. Two miles south correct?" Naruto questioned.

"Yes sir. Are you sure you want to go alone?"

"We might have just lost five hundred shinobi in a minute… I'd rather not lose more." And with that the blond tossed a kunai into the horizon, and disappeared.

The closer he got to Third Battalion's last known position, the more uneasy he felt. He had stopped suddenly when he felt it; not only a chakra signature eerily similar to his own… but multiple of his kunai markers as well. His curiosity got the better of him, and he flashed straight to it.

The sight that greeted him filled his heart with rage. Before him lay the bloody bodies of five hundred slain shinobi. Blood and limbs were strewn throughout the boulder field before him, and a figure was on the horizon. Standing in the middle of the carnage stood the figure who wore a blood soaked white cloak. It flapped gently in the wind, and the words on it were clear and easy to read. A nin stirred beside the man, and asked him a question with his dying breaths. "Lord Fourth Hokage… why.. did you come back to kill us.."

"Dad…?"

Spinning around, the dead man stared back at his son. "Naruto… wow… you're taller than me." Said the fallen Hokage. His pure joy in seeing his son managed to hold back the control of the jutsu user, but it wouldn't last. "Prepare! I can't hold back! I can flash to your kunai and you can flash to mine!"

"Right!" Naruto yelled, realizing that he'd have to fight his father. What ensued was a what seemed to be a ball of lightning forming on the surface of the earth. Yellow flashes filled the barren area as the father and son battered each other.

Across the blood stricken battlefield, the father son duo would appear, locked in heavy taijutsu combat. Naruto, flipped over his father, catching himself on his hands and spinning his legs around to kick at the fallen Hokage's head. Seconds before contact was made, Minato flashed above his son, striking down with a kunai at rapid speeds.

As the blade began to cut through the fabric on Naruto's leg and cut away at the skin, Naruto transitioned to a single handstand. Here, the blond formed a Rasengan in a split second. A bright yellow flash filled the space, and Minato quickly felt the effect as the jutsu bore a hole into his side.

Before any extensive damage could be caused, Minato flashed away, placing distance between himself and his enemy. "I never wanted to meet you this way." Spoke one of Konohagakure's most legendary shinobi.

"I actually met you long ago father. Well, at least the version you sealed inside me." Naruto explained to his dad. "You told me where to find your notes on the Flying Raijin, and I reverse engineered it."

"Ah I see." Said Minato as he sprinted forward. "You've done well. I'm quite impressed." Complemented the man as he met his son's punch with his forearm. Before the living blond could throw another, his chest was met with a strong kick from the reanimation.

"Gah!" Naruto let out as the air was forced out of his lungs. Just before the man impacted a rock, his father appeared behind him, swinging his kunai for the jounin's neck. Naruto flashed away, landing roughly in a pile of rocks. He was sure some of his ribs had snapped. "Dammit. I won't let them use dad like a pawn y'know!" He said forcing his way onto his feet.

Again, his father appeared before him, Rasengan in hand. This time however; Naruto was prepared and launched forward. He slammed a Rasengan into his father's own as the Hokage attacked. Here, Naruto poured whatever chakra he could draw from the Nine Tails into it, and cause it to gain a red hue. Recognizing the danger, Naruto let his Rasengan destabilize and leapt away as the two techniques exploded with massive force.

With a loud boom, Minato's arm was blasted apart, and Naruto stood unscathed. Once more, his father came at him, kunai gripped in his hand. As he closed in, Naruto took a kunai into his mouth while dual wielding one in each of his palms. Finally, father and son collided in a flurry of blades. The sounds of combat echoed through the boulder field, and slashes quickly appeared across both blonds' flak jackets.

The long bladed tri-prong kunai were deadly in close combat, and it wasn't long before the jounin felt the sting of his flesh being cut. Every blow Naruto traded with his father resulted in wounds forming on both men. His father regenerated almost as fast as he did, and the man now had his arm back. Naruto knew that this was likely one battle of attrition he could not win. Once again they clashed, and the living blond was disarmed of his kunai in the trade off of blows.

The son lashed out at his father with a vicious kick that the deceased blond barely managed to dodge before catching a follow up kick right in the face. He stuck out with another that was deflected by his father as he drew a blade. The reanimated Hokage put his son on the back pedal in seconds, and his extra years of experience provided the advantage against his son.

However; the second blond genius was no push over. When Minato struck out with a Rasengan, the blond managed to glide through hand signs at his fastest pace to date, and used a perfectly timed jutsu. As the Rasengan got close, Naruto intercepted it with the hilt of his kunai, and used Flying Raijin: Guiding Thunder to teleport the deadly attack back into his father's kunai pouch. The man's legs were blown clean off by the blast from the large Rasengan, leaving him immobile.

The Hokage's son was on top of him in seconds, pinning the man's arms down as he moved to make hand seals for a sealing jutsu. "Good job Naruto. I'm proud of you." Minato said with a smile.

"Thank you dad." Naruto said as he began the sealing sequence. His eyes narrowed however; when his father's face turned neutral and a foreign voice came from his mouth.

"Sorry, but I'm not done with this pawn." Spoke the strange and in the very back of his mind familiar voice. At that second, Minato flashed away. The blond man felt his father flash away more before he disappeared outside of Naruto's sensor range.

"Damnit." The blond said, surveying the destruction and death around him. "Sure am glad I researched Lord Second's Reanimation jutsu after the chunin exams though." He said quietly to himself. Because of his research, he'd know that sealing his father away was the only option. But if his father had been reanimated… then almost anyone could be.

**Flashback end.**

"Orochimaru definitely isn't coming back… so that means the only one who could have possibly learned that jutsu had to be someone that snake trusted." The blond said pondering the source of the jutsu after reliving his meeting with his father.

"He only trusted one that I know of." A voice said from behind the blond.

"Kabuto." Naruto said.

"That's my guess." Kakashi said as he took a seat beside the man.

"It's likely. We didn't confirm his death at any point." Naruto said, remembering the events of Orochimaru's death. They had all been so focused on their target, they had let one get away that had become an even bigger threat than the previous.

"He may have gone to the Raikage and offered his help in the war." Kakashi offered to the troubled jounin.

"In exchange for what though?" Questioned the new father. "That's what has my curiosity peaked." He admitted to his sensei. He couldn't imagine what Kabuto's motive could possibly be. Everyone had a goal, but he knew nothing of Kabuto's.

"We might never find out." Kakashi resigned.

"I'm worried that with someone like Kabuto whispering in the Raikage or Tsuchikage ears, this war may never be able to be ended by a Kage summit. He could bring convince one or both of them to fight to the last man." Naruto sighed. "I promised to end this war quickly. And I'm starting to think there may be drastic measures necessary. I admit Kaka-Sensei… I planned to slaughter Kumo and Iwa shinobi until their Kage gave up… but reanimations are cost free soldiers."

"That's a fair concern Naruto, and I know that you're right. But I think you're worrying about something too far out of your control."

"Sensei. If we were to come against the first four Hokage… I don't know if we could win… we need to kill Kabuto. And fast." The Namikaze stated.

"How do you propose we do that?" Asked a new arrival.

"You're incapable of sneaking up on me Sasuke." Naruto said without turning around. "We'd need to get into Kumogakure and Iwagakure at the same time. That's on the off chance that he isn't hidden away somewhere else." The blond explained.

"To catch someone that slippery in a large village would almost require us to level the place in an instant." The Uchiha replied, ignoring the blond's insult.

"We can't do that." Naruto said shaking his head. "I need to find a way to break one of the Reanimations free so they can lead us to him. And that's just a shot in the dark. I'm not even sure it'd work." The blond said, hatching a throwaway plan.

"What other options do we have?" Kakashi questioned.

"I don't know…" The blond replied with a saddened sigh.

* * *

"Naru?" Rikka questioned as her husband entered their home. It was quiet in the home that night, and the mother had dealt with no trouble other than the fussing of her young child.

"Hey Rikka." Said the man as he stepped through the door. She observed her husband closely. She picked up right away that something was bothering him, but decided to leave it alone. He looked exhausted, but she knew it wasn't physical. Her husband was mentally drained, and surely wasn't at his best.

"You're home." Rikka said with a smile as she gently bounced their child in her arms. She hoped to cheer him up quickly with a warm and welcoming home.

"That I am. Sorry, I had a meeting with Kakashi and Sasuke. After which we had to go pitch my idea to the Hokage and Shikaku. Shikamaru has been planing a huge role there as well, no surprise he'd follow in his father's footsteps." Naruto said, removing his flak vest and gear. He took his time removing his pouches and restocking some of his daily use scrolls with things like quick lunches and water.

"That's what you did." The mother pointed out. She knew he still looked up to his father immensely, even after the father and son's terrible meeting on the battlefield.

"I suppose you're right." He smiled. His wife was wonderful, and her mere presence was helping bring his happy mood back. "How's our little girl?" He questioned approached the mother and child and played with his offspring's hair.

"Sadly she's been cranky all day." Replied his wife with a sigh. She tried not to tell him about these things, as she didn't want him to worry. Today however; it just felt good to tell him about her day.

"Kushi, have you been giving your momma trouble? Huh?" At her father's face, the child giggled and smiled back at him. "You're supposed to be good for mom remember? Please play nice." He instructed.

"It's fine Naruto, it's not so bad." Rikka insisted.

"Still, I feel bad leaving you here alone so often Rikka. I know I have missions but I hate to rest it all on your shoulders." The blond replied with a frown. He hated that he wasn't able to be there, and he hated the war that had stolen so much from his family, even if it was only time.

"It's okay, we're just happy when you're home." She said with a wide smile. It didn't last long however; as it slowly dropped off her face. "So… where are you going next?"

The blond sighed as he sat down at the table. "Back to the Land of Hot Water this time… I intend to use Kakashi as bait. Worry not though, Sasuke and myself are going to back him up, I'll likely bring Sakura along as well. We have to stop this jutsu as soon as possible. Especially because the findings from my research suggest that the user hasn't mastered it yet. And if the enemy reanimations can fight at this level, I can't imagine the amount of power they could get back after the user masters this."

The danger the reanimation jutsu held was evident, and Naruto would make it his new priority. Seeing his father on the battlefield had hurt him deeply, and he couldn't imagine what it put his allies and friends though.

"I see…" His wife replied softly.

"Before that though… I have to do something else." He said, sadness seeping into his voice.

"What is it darling?" She questioned.

"I need to go apologize to Lord Ichigawa." He stated.

"What for though dear?" Rikka was honestly puzzled by her husband's statement.

"I promised to end this war quickly… and on that note.. I have failed." Naruto said in regret.

"You think that bothers Lord Ichigawa? He likes you a lot Naruto. I'm quite sure he'd forgive you." The woman countered. She saw no reason for her lover to be down on himself for such reasons.

"Even so. It's disrespectful of me to ignore my failure to make good on my promise to him." The blond elaborated. He'd already made up his mind, he'd just decided to tell his wife.

* * *

"Lord Ichigawa… it's nice to see you." Naruto greeted. He truly respected and looked up to the man since he'd met him, and they'd only grown closer since.

"Naruto my boy! I've told you, please refer to me as Hachi when it's just us." The Daimyo insisted.

"Hachi… I've failed you and the Hokage… along with the elders. I made you a promise… and I haven't kept it. I swore to end this war quickly, but it's only drug on." Naruto apologized scincerly. He'd had a lot of confidence in himself at the start of the war, but now with the appearance of the reanimation jutsu, he didn't know anymore.

"Naruto my boy. You never made that a _promise_. You did indeed say you would end this conflict, but you never made it a promise. I wholeheartedly forgive you my dear boy." The leader assured him. He'd cared for all the Hokage he'd met and worked with, and now he would care for the upcoming one.

"Thank you Hachi… I don't deserve this." Naruto said with a sad smile.

"Oh on the contrary Naruto. You do indeed. Now, I must warn you. Some on the Konoha council may not follow my wishes, and you may encounter resistance from the elders. You are in my favor son, but for them, you are the target of their grudge. They've always disliked you, and I'm sure it won't stop now." The Lord of the Land of Fire warmed.

"I understand sir. Thank you, I will watch my back." Due to his lack of experience in the field of politics, Naruto knew that any advice given by the Daimyo would be something important. He knew from what he saw during Hiruzen's reign that he'd need to watch his back around the Konoha elders.

"Naruto… the Land of Fire has been under my watch since the time Hiruzen took the title of Hokage. I've seen many conflicts and shinobi come and go." The Daimyo said, looking out his office window. He motioned for the blond to come closer, and soon the man stood beside him. "Of those shinobi, only a select few have earned enough recognition to become more than an elite jounin. For example, we have your Hokage. And just below them, we have the Sannin. As of right now, the five strongest living Konoha shinobi are yourself, Lady Tsunade, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura." When he finished listing out those five, he turned to his friend with a smile. "Naruto out of those five ninja, I believe you to be the strongest. You're not only the strongest but you're mature beyond your age. I believe you're ready to be Hokage, but I know that you must fight in this war. Please my boy, do not die. Become the strongest you can be, and lead Konohagakure into its new golden age." As he finished he laid a hand on the Namikaze's shoulder.

"Thank you Hachi. I won't let you down." Naruto replied with a small smile of his own.

"You're welcome. Make sure to tell Rikka and little Kushina I said hello. You're a wonderful father my boy. Don't forget that." Ichigawa said with a grin. He truly missed the boy's father, and enjoyed the company of the young blond man.

"Hachi… there's something else I'd like to inform you of." Naruto said.

"Oh? And that is." Here Naruto threw up a few privacy seals before speaking quietly into the Daimyo's ear. "Oh wow Naruto. That's quite and aggressive idea." He offered.

"Do I have your permission sir? This could undermine the Hokage." The Namikaze cautioned.

"Yes you have my permission my boy. I will deal with Tsunade and the Lightning Daimyo." Hachi replied.

"Thank you sir." Naruto said.

"Of course my boy." The Lord answered.

* * *

"Thank god you can't fight like you used to Zabuza." Kakashi said as he took a heavy breath.

"I might not have my will, but I'm still fine with a rematch with you Hatake. If I had my full power I'd kill you." The dead Kirigakure nin said with a smile.

"I'm sorry you and Haku were forced from your rest." The cyclops apologized.

"Thank you mister Hatake, but you should focus." The ice user said with a kind respectful voice.

Kakashi duked it out with the pair a while longer, eager to get the plan into motion. He finally severed Zabuza's arms, and completely de-limbed Haku before sticking one of Naruto's kunai into the swordsman's chest.

Zabuza stumbled back from the force of it, and almost shit himself when Naruto appeared. "Jesus kid!" He said in surprise while kicking out at the new arrival. Once again, his mind was blown as the blond dodged the kick with speed Zabuza had never witnessed. The man pushed the reanimated ninja onto the ground and slapped a seal on his chest that held him in place.

Naruto smiled at his former enemy and threw a kunai at Haku. It landed beside the ninja, and Zabuza's mouth dropped open at Naruto's speed. "He's come a long way hasn't he Kakashi…."

"That he has Zabuza." The Konoha nin replied.

"Tell me… is he?" The former Kiri shinobi questioned.

"Yup. You're looking at the son of the Fourth Hokage. Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash." Chuckled Kakashi.

"I should have guessed." Zabuza said with a sigh.

As the two ninja spoke, Haku stared at the blond man in awe. "Are you…"

"Yup. Thanks for teaching Sasuke the lessons you did. He changed a lot after he met you." Naruto replied with a large grin.

"Did I really change that much?" Asked the raven haired man who approached.

"Yeah you did." The blond teased.

"Sasuke? Is that you? You look different now….older." Haku questioned in slight doubt.

"Yeah, I'm twenty two now." The Uchiha answered.

"Wow." Came this simple response of the ice weilder.

"It's good to see you Haku… I've wanted to thank you for a long time. I learned a lot from you, and it changed me for the better. The chance meeting I had with you derailed the hellish path I think I was on, so… Thank you." Sasuke said, finally having a chance to thank someone from his past who'd changed his life for the better.

"You're welcome." The reanimation smiled.

"I knew you were just a big softie Uchiha." Naruto teased.

"Fuck off Namikaze." Sasuke said bluntly.

"You two settle now. Thank you for teaching so much to Sasuke Haku, you did so much for us." Sakura said to what in another world could have been her romantic rival.

At this, all six ninja shared a chuckle before Naruto sealed away Haku. "Rest well snow angel." Said Kakashi quietly. "A kind person like you deserved better."

"I couldn't agree more." Zabuza spoke.

"Zabuza. I'm going to break you free of the Reanimation user's control. A battalion of our ninja are currently fighting some other reanimated ninja, so unless the user wants to lose that battle, he's not gonna release the jutsu." The blond jounin explained to the once living shinobi. "You should able to sense where he is right?" He questioned.

"Yeah, I can." The man answered simply.

"Good, now you're gonna lead us to him. Your arms should regenerate soon, so here's your sword. You're on our side now." Naruto said with a grin.

"Heh, that's no fun. But I guess I'll play your game brat." Zabuza quipped at the blond.

"Now now, I'm not much younger than you anymore." Naruto replied with a calm smile.

"I suppose not, but you're still a brat." Laughed the once vicious shinobi.

"Alright now, so we are going to follow him to who we assume is Kabuto, correct?" Asked the copy ninja.

"Yeah… Sakura.. Kakashi… Sasuke." Naruto said.

"What is it Naruto?" Questioned the Uchiha.

"If the Raikage shows up and interferes… I'm going to kill him."

"What!?"

* * *

_**Well that's all for today y'all! I'll try to keep updates consistent! Soon wilczyca117 on deviantart will be putting out art of the haircut scene, so I'll let you know! Please check out my new story Namikaze's Lament! Love y'all and have a happy New Years!**_


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